OMG: TODDLERS&TIARAS

I came across this article in people magazine and I just had to post it! I am a mom of 2 and I just find this whole concept of pageants for kids so wrong. Why are these mothers subjecting their little girls to such demeaning acts!! I just don't get it. They are taking it a bit too far. Why couldn't we all just be happy with the good old fancy dress competitions!i just hate it when I see parents parading their little girls in skimpy outfits!! kids should dress like kids and not like 23 year old bimbettes! I understand mothers love adorning their girls in some really opulent clothes, but fake teeth caps, false eyelashes and padding to give them assets is just plain sick!! Take a look and lemme know if you are as shocked as I am!!

For nearly three years, the hit TLC show Toddlers & Tiaras has captured the drama behind the scenes in the world of child beauty pageants. The tantrums were extreme, and the pre-show prep of spray tanning and eyebrow waxing seemed perhaps premature for little kids.

But in the last few weeks, as footage of 3- and 4-year-olds dressed in overly adult costumes (like Dolly Parton, complete with padded breasts, or Julia Roberts's streetwalker from Pretty Woman hit the airwaves, viewers and pageant skeptics have been expressing horror at an industry that is now accused of "sexualizing" young girls.

"Little girls are supposed to play with dolls, not be dolls," New York-based licensed clinical social worker Mark Sichel tells PEOPLE in its new issue, on newsstands now.

He adds that the extremes parents go to in order to prepare their children for competition – using padding, fake hair, flippers (faux teeth) and spray tans – "causes the children tremendous confusion, wondering why they are not okay without those things."

Now devoted pageant moms are speaking out in their own defense. Wendy Dickey, who dressed her daughter Paisley, 3, as Julia Roberts, tells PEOPLE the look was "tasteful and funny." Still, "If I knew there would be a reaction like this, I never would have used it," Dickey says. "Next time, she'll be dressed as an angel."

And Juana Myers, whose daughter MaKenzie has been featured on Tiaras, says unfair scrutiny has been placed on the pageant industry. "If this were a sport, no one would question it," she says. "This is her sport."
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MADISYN VERST: BEFORE
It takes about 3 hours of prep – and more than $3,000 for outfits, accoutrements, accessories and entry fees – to get this 5-year-old ready for pageant day.

MADISYN VERST: AFTER
Maddy's mother, Lindsay Jackson, and her grandmother foot her five-figure annual pageant bill.

KAILIA DELIZ
The big winner at the California Gold Coast pageant, Kailia, 5, is an old pro: She first hit the stage at 7 days old.

BEAUTY IS PAIN?
Like many girls featured on Toddlers & Tiaras Kalia displays a serious disdain for hair spray.

MAKENZIE MYERS: BEFORE
"When she's not competing, she looks like any other 6-year-old girl," says MaKenzie's mom, Juana (right).

MAKENZIE MYERS: AFTER
With her flipper (snap-on teeth that many "glitz" pageant contestants wear) firmly in place, MaKenzie works the stage.