The cable station TLC is known for women’s entertainment that focuses on wedding planning, cooking and child birth.

TLC is also known as the network responsible for the monster-mom show, “Toddlers and Tiaras.”
This reality show follows young girls and their dramatic mothers as they compete in beauty pageants across the country.

These pageant girls, sometimes as young as 3- years-old, are dressed up in skimpy clothes, evening gowns and flashy outfits, complete with thick makeup, fake eyelashes and hair extensions.
They compete the same way teenagers and adults compete in pageants.

They walk around the stage in bikinis, dance provocatively in themed outfits and are “done up” in dramatic makeup. These young girls are encouraged to focus on physical beauty rather than intelligence and charisma.

Our biggest issues as children were what we wanted to wear to school the next day and whether or not we had a crush on one of our friends.That innocence is what helps children grow without dealing with feelings of failure and inadequacy that adults sometimes face in competition.

The pageant mothers featured on “Toddlers and Tiaras” use their children as pawns in their own competitions. Every episode shows three or more mothers who “encourage” their daughters, sometimes even sons, to be the best ­— regardless of what that entails.

These mothers stand in the crowd and scream at their children to pay attention, dance in the aisles during their dance routines and sob or yell when their “little princess” does not win the biggest crown.The biggest crown goes along with the highest title, the “Big Supreme,” and this is the goal for every pageant mom.

The title includes the most dramatic crown, a flashy sash and a large cash prize.The cash prize can range up to $1,000 — another incentive aside from simply being no. 1. Some mothers claim this cash prize is not an issue and that they would simply use the money for the cost of future pageants or a savings account for the child.

Others, however, openly admit that they look forward to the cash prize.

These women are profiting from parading their children across a stage. They spend money on lavish costumes, makeup and hair artists, pageant coaches and travel. Are these large expenses all for the children to “have fun?” Aside from these hefty cash prizes, the bragging rights that are gained with the crown are also important.

When a contestant wins a lesser crown, the mother will often smile and clap as she comments on what the child could have done better or how another child did not deserve the crown she received.
Why do these “caring” mothers involve their children in over-sexualized beauty pageants rather than team sports, gymnastics or youth groups?

Why do these women express so much stress and anxiety over a competition that they claim is all for the children? The issue with this show is its encouragement of selfish mothers who live through their children.

Mothers who hold their own competitive nature as more important than their daughters’ and sons’ childhoods are not entertaining.They are an embarrassment to real mothers.

“Toddlers and Tiaras” is not a reality television show.

It is a depiction of selfish mothers causing emotional harm to their children.