to not get why people enter their kids into local beauty contests?

[NoobyNoob]

We have one running in our local area at the moment, no prize as such, your child just gets named the cutest child in the city.

I'm so fed up with seeing more than half of my FB friends asking people to vote for their kids on my newsfeed (yes, I've hidden the lot of them now) and I don't understand all the 'oneupmanship' that goes on with things like this.

Surely, you know your child is beautiful and the most precious thing to you, so why do you have to prove it to everyone else?

Have I bypassed my 'fun' chip?

I put dd1 in just so i could see her pic in the paper :) I knew she wouldn't win (though she was the best baby there ) as it went on votes and my family is very small, whereas other are HUGE.

Yabu it's just a bit of fun. I entered ds2 and you get a large copy of the photo to keep, and was nice to see him in the paper and keep it for when he is older. Most do have prizes too.

I see, I didn't realise you get a nice photo to keep.

YANBU
I find it rather sad that people do this and as for the constant bombardment on facebook "please like my child" requests, well that's another reason I am not on facebook any more.

Have you watched Toddlers and Tiaras on the telly?

YANBU. I honestly don't see the value of parading your child around. Since I don't have FB I've not been prodded to like a particular child.
I did notice our local rag had four pages of photographs. They ranged from tiny babies to 10YOs, DD saw a couple of school mates.
The paper gave a phone number to call to vote. 10p per vote. I don't know who got the money, charity was certainly not mentioned.

I find this kind of thing very uncomfortable and I can't really explain why.

When my DCs were younger people would ask if I had seen their DCs in the our local paper for similar things and I would think "why, oh why does anyone want strangers to compare small children?"

Children are children and should be allowed to just be.

Life will bring up exams and job interviews and driving tests and promotions and disappointments and redundancies and relationship breakdowns and crimes ......... let them just ....... be.

Apparently primary schools discourage photo taking at concerts/sports days etc in case of paedophiles so why is this ok?

I am not critisising anyone for doing it - it is clearly me that has the issue, not them.

I'm with you OP, although I can't really explain why.

what Zelda said - I did it for the pic in the paper - which is in the scrap book (as my mum did the same for me and I still find it funny) but had no hope of winning - people who take it seriously are a bit odd imho

I don't get it at all. They have an annual competition in the paper in PIL's city, and every year I despair at the babies who all appear to be dressed in a pile of lacy doilies, propped up on an old sheepskin rug, with ENORMOUS headbands stuck on their baldy little heads.

They're all beautiful in their own way - why on earth do people feel the need to compare them all and have them judged in order of most physically beautiful at such a young age? Clearly, if I entered DD I know she'd win, but I don't feel the need to enter her into a competition to know this.

It's never a beauty contest though, it's always a popularity contest! I think the genuine votes from the dear old grannies who love a bonny baby are few and far between.

Otherwise it's just whoever has the most Facebook friends.

I don't need to enter a competition to know that my kids are the most gorgeous ones around

YANBU