Nightline did a segment Thursday on a woman who routinely injects her 8-year old daughter with botox to mitigate wrinkles. She is in beauty pageants and feels she is much prettier after her Mommy injects her face with one of the most dangerous poisons known to man.
The mother was being investigated by Children's Services after it was aired on one of the morning shows.
From a developmental point of view, this child is going to have problems with how she looks and feels about herself for many years, if not forever. It is during childhood that our sense of self first emerges, and with so much emphasis on outer beauty this little girl has not been given time to explore her world, safe in the knowledge that she is okay just the way she is. I think that was clear when she said she felt better after the treatments. This child is desperate to please her Mommy, and if it means going through painful procedures, then she will do that.
After all, if Mommy feels you need this in order to be prettier - she must be right. Children see themselves through their parent's eyes.
Seriously, if an alien race is watching us - we are freaking them out!
32 comments:
How utterly sad! Another child with a lost childhood.
Finally they started an investigation. It was about time to teach this mother a lesson before this will start a trend. Botox is to treat anti-aging signs not for kids....
This mother should have bought herself a doll, not given birth! So, so sad..
To me the entire child beauty pageant culture represents a form a institutionalized child abuse. The story brings to mind the tragic case of JonBenet Ramsey.
ugh, i caught a snippet of this...how sick...and totally screwing up the childs image of themselves for life...
This is wrong on every level I can think of. I suspect mommy is in dire need of psychological help (am no expert, but this can't be normal)and soon the daughter will, too. The physical damage alone will be tough on that poor kid.
And seriously, thinking wrinkles at eight? Eeeeekkkk.
Yes, this is terribly sad and a commentary on our culture. Child beauty pageants are scary in themselves, and now this! I cannot imagine how those kids can ever be normal.
Unbelievable that a mother would even consider doing this. Then again, kid beauty pageants are a sick industry. And yes, the aliens really are freaking out if we're on their radar!
I saw that too. that poor kid.
Rob-bear - I hope not. Maybe this mother will get some help. I do think she loves her little girl, she probably just got caught up in the competition.
botox - I totally agree. It needs to be an adult decision. What was worrisome was that she said her daughter was not the only little girl getting the treatments.
Shrinky - I agree. You can dress little dolls up without worrying about how they feel about themselves.
Bruce - From a developmental point of view - I have to agree. I think children develop a skewed view of self - "I am not as pretty as the next girl so what value do I have?" It goes back to the posts I did on shame and guilt and how so much of what we carry around, we developed during childhood.
Brian - I think you are right.
Leah - I do think the Mom needs to get some help, if nothing else an education on how children develop. Why aren't parenting classes mandatory in high school? At least some early childhood classes. It might alleviate so much misunderstanding and suffering.
DJan - I would like to research that sometime. You've given me a great idea. Thanks. :-)
Trish - LOL! I do think we are freaking them out if they are observing us.
Ellen - I wanted to cry when she said she felt better after all of the injections - which were all over her face. :-(
That makes me sick. As others pointed out, the whole child beauty pageant thing is kind of twisted and weird. Kids are supposed to look like kids, and we have to teach them that it's okay to be imperfect. The pageant culture teaches them the opposite, and that's wrong on so many levels.
We've had to walk the line very carefully with Katie's acting career - some directors want that "perfect" look, and we've always insisted that they let her look like a kid. Freckles and all.
Jeff - I remember a family member suggesting we get our daughters into pageants - I just laughed. The older one was already too preoccupied with make-up - ususally mine - and the younger one based her clothes decisions on whether or not they itched. :-)
These are the moments...when I wonder about the human race. Wonder how a mother could go so down the wrong path. Wonder what could have happened in her own childhood that she is so desperate to find it through her child via botox. Very, very sad.
Kala - I think you make a very good point here. This is really about how the mother feels about herself.
girl, don't even get me started on this mess!!! how disgusting - and totally sad - what a comment for our society that places perceived sexuality of children at the front and at the hands [injections] of their own parents - and of course, i am so reminded of the horrific jonbenet ramsey story - and of all the little girls who are turned into sexual objects by their parents as they parade them around in, as bruce coltin so aptly says, institutionalized child abuse pageants!
I am so glad I had a boy! Today on the news they were talking about the controversy surrounding the Sketcher's Shape Up shoes that they are marketing to 7 year old girls... On the commercial there are animated little girls being chased by boys dressed up as cupcakes and ice cream cones... the messages (conscious and subconscious) here are crazy!
Child beauty pageants are every kind of wrong.
Nancy,
I saw that segment and also watched the interview of the both the mother and daughter. I remember thinking how sad for both of them. How very, very sad.
Okay. I'm having a hard time with this one. Really? Can we just splatter the old lady's face all over the place so she has no where to hide. This makes me so damn mad. That kid hasn't much of a chance.
Your magic words: " She is perfect just the way she is". All the rest is someone else's issue and refusal to tell the truth!
And some wonder why I want to leave this race and planet, what on earth are we turning into?
Hear hear Nancy. It is appalling to read these stories. Children should stay children for as long as possible, in my opinion. We are adults for long enough as it is, why rush it!
That's hideous. She really will have issues. It's sad for both of them. I tell my children daily how beautiful they are. Hopefully it'll help them through the treacherous teen years, especially my daughter.
Of course, all of this just highlights the skewed sense of what's important to Americans.
First of all, that woman should be arrested. Next, aliens have been watching us for years. Word is out all around the universe: "Those people are crazy. Don't even stop there for gas."
we're freaking ME out LOL
Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
><}}(°>
><}}(°>
<°)}}><
I hope the mother will be charged with Child Endangerment. I heard on the news tonight that the girl was taken out of the home over the weekend. Poor kid.
A child should be allowed to be a child and grow...slowly. Beauty pageants 'forced' these children to 'grow up' too quickly. Somehow it does. Beauty comes from within. It is sad what some parents want from their child. Tsk..tsk..
So very sad....smiles to you!
The mother has now lost custody of the girl.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/california-daughter-injected-botox-longer-custody-mom/story?id=13611279
Hopefully now the poor girl will learn to accept herself and not keep turning to crazy beauty ideas all her life.
Gypsy - It is the sex object part of it that I really object to -
Jen - Chased by ice-cream cones? We are so out of control in this country over how everyone should look.
Hilary - I totally agree. On so many levels they are wrong.
Good Cook - I agree. The mother is trying to live through the daughter, and the daughter wants to please her mother - and on and on they go.
California - It is so very sad on so many levels.
Grandmother - Exactly.
Gemel - We do seem to be totally out of control over beauty and outward appearances, and not in control enough of our inner urges.
Star - Isn't that the truth? We are adults way longer than we are children.
Whitney - You are doing the right thing - tell them how beautiful they are all of the time - because they are!
Jayne - LOL! Don't even stop for gas!
Cloudia - This story certainly freaked me out.
Linda - Now she has lost her mother, too, first her childhood - now her mother. :-(
Bubbles - I agree. Too soon to think about all the things you have to think about while competing in a pageant.
Emom - Thanks :-)
Steph - I hope they put her where she will be loved and cared for, and hopefully her mother will get the help she needs and they will be reunited. Children hate to be separated from their parents - even when the parents are not very good ones. They're so loyal that way.
Oh, you are so right on all counts. That "mother" is pathetically selfish. Really it is all about HER and trying to live her life through that child.
Stickhorsecowgirls - I think you are right. She is trying to live through her daughter - and I hope this experience is just what she needs to wake up and realize how destructive it is for her little girl. Maybe then they can be reunited - because I feel that is what they both want and need.
Post a Comment