Family Issue Report - Essay Example

Using Erickon's Psychological Stages of Development, we will compare negative effects pageants have on girls from ages zero to five; and briefly take into account the damage it does to the development of the other children of the family. Young girls are taught from birth that it is more important to be dressed like a Barbie dolls with perfect artificial blond hair and glitzy clothes and show off their bodies and childlike voices than be children and good students. Parents, screaming in the audience, show that they have devoted their lives to their children.

Many are overweight and demand utter perfection from their children. In the HBO documentary (1999), the little girl says "But Mommy, all I need is a hug. Her mother says, Not until you get it right." Does the child feel inferior? She is only 5 years old. Parents seem to want to fulfill their own fantasy that they did not fulfill as children. They want their children to be perfect beauty queens, perfect performers, and perfectly dressed. They spend thousands of dollars on each designer dress. They hire coaches and makeup artists.

When a child is interviewed, she never speaks of her education. Her one goal in life is to become a model or an actress. With over three million participants a year, how many actually make it? (Maliakal, 2010) 1. 1rst Stage of Development: 0 - 1 The Building of Trust and Confidence A baby from zero to 12 months only depends on the people in her own circle. If the people with her are stressed, she will realize that her world is not that safe place. it used to be. She doesn't want to have to be changing into complicated dresses and having funny creams put on her face.

She doesn't want to be handled by strange people. Her most important trait is confidence in her mother. She does not to be in competition with her mother. A pageant at any age is stressful for the parent. The first year of life is the most important in developing a sense of trust that life does work out. There is no competition or stress beyond feeding and getting diapers changed. The mother who creates a different environment does it because of her own needs. If the baby does not have the comfort of this confident building, she will caring a sense of mistrust with her for her whole life. 2. Second Stage of Development: 2-3 The Building of Autonomy and Pride In Living Dolls Part 1- Part 6 HBO "1998" (HB0 1999), the viewer sees the progression of one young girl who started at 3 years old.

The mother, who was an army brat, spent 4 years as a sergeant in the army. She had four children with her two marriages. Her life was devoted to her 'beauty baby'. She expected her other children to follow and not doubt any of her choices. At three, Shaw took the initiative to do everything right at each pageant. Her perfectionism became obsessive because her mother ran her like a boot camp. She would cry when she forgot her songs on stage or a dance step. She would search for her mother's approval after each performance.

When she didn't perform properly, she was shamed by her mother and avoided looking into her mother's eyes or would hide.. Her performances were to get her mother's approval. Her obsessive desire to win forced her to work harder and harder, she only practiced so she would become an actress or a model. In the update program, she turned into a normal adolescent. 3. Third Stage of Development: 4-5 The desire to have a real purpose in life She took