Sweet holy moly, let me get into my fire retardant suit as I will most likely tick both side of the isle.
I have never watched the show and have better things to do than watch, but like “Show Dog Mom And Dads” there is an interest so there is a show. I think as a competition it is no worse than karate, little league, etc. It is just the how the competition is conducted is where I see it is suspect. Self-esteem apart I am against them because of the hypocrisy imbedded in it. If you try so hard to keep kids, a kid long after nature had other ideals prancing them around in thousand dollar gowns and all the waxing, spray tanning and other stuff seems disingenuous.
Esteem wise I can see it going both ways, great if you are winning, poor if you are not. What girl does not want to feel or be the fairy princess? To dress like a Disney princess and get the royal treatment and everyone snapping your picture and telling you how cute you are. If you can never pull in the big win it can start to grate on you because you know you will never beat “that girl” because she is prettier. If she is “persuaded” and I use the term loosely, into participating when she would rather do spelling bees or play lacrosse, then it is really not cool.
Many parents want to be proud their girl won “Little Miss Apple Queen” as those who kid aced the science decathlon. Not saying both competitions are the same but the pride the parent has is the same in my book. If you don’t have a brainy child you can say you had the prettiest. Some parents might be trying to live what they missed or could never have, wasn’t cute enough, through their children, but to a degree we live a bit through our children. The father who wanted to play MLB but was crappy at sports but now has a 11yr old little leaguer who can smoke a 65mph slider; I know he is imagining and living a dream in his head of his kid getting a baseball scholarship, being All American and getting drafted to the Majors.
If you want kids to be kids then don’t muddle the waters.