Parents, do you think pageants are inappropriate?

I disagree with a lot of the people posting here. I think that pageants themselves aren't inappropriate, but the swimsuit portion can be. Yes, the swimsuit you posted is too skimpy in my opinion. And I'm sorry, but I completely disagree with carthryl69. He might not know that pageants actually have a talent portion, so it's utterly absurd (and offensive) to say that nobody in pageants has any talent. He also probably doesn't know that most girls in pageants only participate a couple weekends every year. All the time left, kids can do what they want. Pageants are a very controversial subject, so it's likely I'll get many thumbs down for my opinion. But I think the reason for the bad press that you were talking about is that there are so many mothers that go overboard. But just like saying all pageant mothers live through their child and all pageant girls are stuck up, spoiled brats; is it totally fair to say that all parents who don't put their children in pageants are amazing, kind parents who do everything for their child, and all the kids are perfect angels? No, that's not true. My daughter Madison, who's 11, is in national pageants often. The catch is, she wears barely any makeup and doesn't spray-tan or diet or do anything crazy. They're just a fun activity, and she realizes that winning doesn't mean everything. She also realizes that it's wrong for the moms and kids that she sees to go overboard like that. She excels at the interview portion, because she volunteers in her community. I think that the people commenting are just basing their information off of whatever ridiculous show is playing on TLC about babies being dressed up. So yes, I'm bracing myself for many thumbs down, but I'm just trying to educate you about the truth about beauty pageants.