Your putting her in a pageant?!

Hi, I’m Roberta and I’m a pageant mom. There I’ve said it; I’ve admitted it & now I will accept it.

Sound familiar?

Reminds me of those AA meetings on TV where the new member gets up and says, “Hi I’m Bob and I’m an alcoholic” and the group responds, “Hi Bob”. Why is that, why is it that when you say “pageant” there is instant judgment and cynicism?

What if we could change that, what if when we thought of a pageant we thought of CONFIDENCE, LIFE SKILLS or GIVING BACK? What if we associated “Beauty” with INNER beauty? Would we be less judgmental and more encouraging?

I went on Goggle and just for fun I “goggled” pageant mom to see what I would find. Well, I found “Princess by Proxy: Explaining Extreme Pageant Moms…”, “Pageant Mom Goes Too Far: What Would You do?”, “Pageant Mom: Did She Put Her Daughter in Danger” and my favorite “Florida pageant mom fed teenager daughter TAPEWORMS…”.

I look at those titles and I think that’s not me; that’s not who I am, but I AM a pageant mom.

I am also a “Dance Mom” or “Swim Mom” and maybe someday I’ll be a “Hockey Mom” or “Football Mom”.  But in the end, I am just a MOM which is above all the most important to me. And just like with any other competitive sport, most of us are just that, “Moms” that want nothing more than to have their child succeed in whatever they are passionate about.

So, then question arises, why does it have to be basketball, soccer, swimming or any other socially acceptable sport? Why can’t it be pageantry? What makes a “Beauty” pageant different than any other activity? Doesn’t every sport/activity/hobby have that ONE parent; you know who I am talking about, that doesn’t “play” by the rules.

I would like to invite you along on this journey with me as I explore what it truly means to be a Pageant Mom, the ups, the downs and everything in-between.  The only thing I ask is to keep an open mind, there is more to pageants then you think!