Child Beauty Pageant

Did you know that every year 6% of children in beauty pageants get depression (7 Crucial Pros and Cons of Beauty Pageant)? Imagine a young child going through depression because of their beauty not getting them a price. Child beauty pageants cause young adolescent to use artificial means to boost their self-confidents. Outfits used in the pageants sexualizes them, parents waste over thousands of dollars just for one pageant.  Makeup, spray tans and more are a must in the pageant world. Makeup at a young age has many bad side effects on their skin.

After an interview done with pageant moms, the average amount of money spend on a pageant is ten to thousands of dollars to get ready for a pageant (staff). To win a pageant your child must have a one of a kind designer dress costing several hundred dollars. Most children in pageants have a radiant orange tan which coast fifty to seventy dollars, in the judges’ mind the tan is beauty. But on the outside of the pageant world the child looks rather disgusting.

 

Pageants are done all over the country, having to travel is extremely common. Some pageant moms even have mobile homes dedicated to just pageants. With all the money, they spend on pageants they could be saving for their child’s future.

 

Costume jewelry is a big deal too, the more bling the better chance of winning. Hair and nails must be done too. Moms will bribe their child with candy and energy drinks in order for them to stay still while getting thee makeup done. Fake hair is always involved when getting ready. Hair spray and other hair products are always added. Pageant parents tend to hire makeup artist and hair stylist so they don’t have to deal with it themselves.

 

 

With all the tools the children use to get ready have Nickel in it which is bad for their skin and can cause allergic reaction. It was found that hair dresser’s nails contained ten times as much nickel as those of controls, highlighting and significance of repeated handling nickel-based tools (Dermatology 1). Young children’s immune system isn’t high, so the littlest amount of anything bad on their skin and be harmful. Parents put ther child’s health at risk every pageant they enter.

 

Beauty pageants sexualizes the children with their vast variety of outfits for each category. Each pageant starts off with the introduction, gives the judges an idea of what your about. The second category is casual wear, where you et to wear your outfit of choose. for example, a child might wear an American flag themed outfit, which consist of booty shorts and a mini shirt. Another example as seen on Toddlers and Tiaras, a three-year-old girl dressed up as the main character from Pretty Women. The judges look for large smiles with pearly white teeth. Most of the children have teeth missing since they are growing so they get fitted for almost a drencher like replacement for their teeth. They call it a flipper; the flippers prices are in the thousands. Cute gestors, hands on their hips and an overall cute/spunky attitude. The third category is formal wear, the child struts about in there glammed out mini dress, with high heels. The small and reveling outfits can easily catch the eye of a sex offender.

 

 

In the beauty pageant world beauty is the number one priority. Skinny body, nice skin, perfect hair, beauty eyes and that amazing smile. The strong focus on physical appearance cause girls to become obsessed, and loss gives them the feeling that they weren’t good enough to win (Ethiopia Blog 2). Every little girl is beautiful in their own way, how can you single the so called ‘not beautiful’ ones out. Mothers of the contenders will put their young children on diets to win.

 

Some people even say that beauty pageants have a good side to it. They say that it gives children the chance the make friends and even skill for them in the future. It also gives the children something to do that’s fun. Even though some win at beauty pageants are just bragging rights, others open a door to bigger things in the child’s future. Is it worth it though? The money put towards the pageants could be saving for the child’s future. The time put toward it and all the times he/she is taken out of school that child could have made more friends. The skills the child learns is what, being the most beautiful.

 

Beauty pageants exploits and interrupts a child’s adolescents. Kids should be playing in a park, doing crafts, spending time with family. Not being put into reveling clothes and judged on their looks. Child beauty pageants cause young adolescent to use artificial means to boost their self-confidents. The only thing young children should worry about is having fun, and not being exploited like mini prostitutes.

 

 

 Work cited

 

Sciolla, Gabriella. “Beauty in the Standard Model and beyond.” AIP Conference

Proceedings, vol. 870, no. 1, 17 Nov. 2006, pp. 10-16. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1063/1.2402592.

 

Jacob, Sharon E, et al. “Nickel Ferrule Applicators: A Source of Nickel Exposure in

Children.” Pediatric Dermatology, vol. 32, no. 2, Mar. 2015, pp. e62-e63. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/pde.12514.

 

“7 Crucial Pros and Cons of Beauty Pageant.” EthiopiaBlog, 17 November, 2015. Page

1-3.

 

Parenting, Today Staff. “4 Reasons to Keep Your Daughter Out of Children’s Beauty

Pageants.” Children Development Info, 12 April, 2016. Page 1-9.

 

“Pageant Categories.” Pear Girls, 2014.

Sleep Deprivation and Suicide

Did you know that you need 9 or more hours of sleep a day? Think of the times you didn’t sleep. How did you feel? People tend to feel depressed and emotional. Some people even get anxiety and suicidal. Our body needs sleep, sleep helps the brain and body rest. Sleep also plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout a persons life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. Imagine being sleep deprived; your health might be in some danger.

Baby yawning

 

Sleep deprivation is when someone gets less sleep than needed to feel awake and alert. People vary in how little sleep is needed to be considered sleep deprived. Sleep is a neutral state, during which both memory consolidation and homeostatic preservations take place (Lingguo 1). Some people such as older adults seem to be more resistant to the effects of sleep deprivation, while others, especially children and young adults, are more vulnerable. After around 16 hours of staying awake, the body attempts to balance the need for sleep. Some people may consider sleep as wasted time and purposely deprive themselves of sleep to pursue other things such as entertainment, educational goals and much more. This intentional sleep deprivation is most likely to be seen in teenagers and young adults.

An inability to sleep is one of the key signs of clinical depression. Another sign of clinical depression is sleeping too much or oversleeping. Having a sleep disorder does not in itself cause depression, but lack of sleep does play a role. Lack of sleep caused by another medical illness or by personal problems can make depression worse. In a study of sleep difficulties in 140 adolescence suicide victims, 131 adolescents control and compared rates of sleep disturbance (Mental Health Practice 24). An inability to sleep that lasts over a long period of time is also an important clue that someone may be depressed. Clinical depression is a mood disorder. It causes you to feel sad, hopeless, worthless, and helpless. When you feel sad for long periods and the feelings become intense, the depressed mood and its associated physical symptoms can keep you from living a normal life.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people. A major cause of suicide is mental illness, very commonly depression. Suicide completers had a higher rates of overall sleep disturbance (Mental Health Practice 24). People feeling suicidal are overwhelmed by painful emotions and see death as the only way out, losing sight of the fact that suicide is a permanent “solution” to a temporary state—most people who try to kill themselves but live later say they are glad they didn’t die. Most people who die by suicide could have been helped. An individual considering suicide frequently confides in a friend, who may be able to convince them to seek treatment. When the risk is high, concerned friends and relatives should seek professional guidance. Suicidal thoughts may be fleeting or more frequent, passive. Preparations for death, such as giving away possessions or acquiring a gun, are cause for great concern. A sudden lift in spirits in a depressed person can be a warning sign that they are planning to kill themselves. Any level of suicidal thinking should be taken seriously.

Sleep deprivation as you see is linked to suicide. Studies shown that your body needs sleep and when it lacks it, your body starts to shut down. Making irrational decisions and even memory loose will accrue more often. When your child is sleeping in on a Sunday don’t go and wake them up, let the sleep because they need it. Let your children sleep as much as possible in a health manner. Any signs of them not sleep talk to them about it and get them help.

 

by Zofia K

My first tattoo

It was April 29, 2015, when I experienced getting my first tattoo. I was with my mother and my aunt Nichloe. The tattoo was a gift for my 16^th birthday. We went to my aunt’s friends shop because got family discount. I had no idea what I was going to indoor next.

I had this image of what I wanted in my head. Describing it to Ian the artist wasn’t easy but after multiple sketches I feel in love with the third one. It was a beautiful paisley pattern that started at the top of my foot and ended half way up the ankle. Not the place I really wanted it but the only place I could get it. At that point, I wanted a tattoo so badly I didn’t care where it was just if I got it. Ever since I was little girl I wanted a tattoo and now I am just hours away from finally having one.

I googled what the pain would feel like as he was cleaning the area and getting ready to tattoo on me. People on the internet said it wasn’t that bad and if you have a high pain tolerates. I have tons of piercing so I figured the tattoo would just feel like a tickle. He started at the bottom on my foot by my toes. The sound of the needle repeatedly moving made a humming noise which was relaxing. I started to sweat and shaking as he moved closer to my foot. The heavy metal music in the background didn’t help my nerves either.

He started and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to move my foot. I wasn’t ready for this pain, but momma didn’t raise no quitter so I wasn’t about to give up. The faces I made from the pain were so ugly. I’m talking about double chin were noises kind of shit. Horrible curse words were just spilling out of my mouth. Ian started to get mad at me from constantly moving and asked if I wanted a smoke break. I never was so excited to get up.

Outside he asked why I was getting my first tattoo on my foot. I explained to him it was the only place I could get it. He went on to tell me that the top of the foot was one of the most painful spots. Now I know why my mother said I could get it there. She thought that if it hurt so bad I would never get one again.  Since the pain was so bad we decided to not go up my ankle with my tattoo and just do the design at the top of the foot.

Smoke break ended, and it was time to finish what he started. The tattoo artist in the next booth over yelled at me. ‘Stop acting like a little girl, you need to stop moving’. I’m thankful he yelled at me because he scared me and all I could think about was how I wanted my bed and eat warm bread. I sucked up the pain with making my weird faces and noises again. My tattoo should of took not even two hours to finish, and because of me moving it took almost three hours.

By the time, we were all done I was a hot mess. My eyes were red and puffy from crying. The moment of truth came and I finally walked to the mirror to see this beautiful masterpiece. When I saw, it I was so happy, I started crying again.

Moral of the story is my mother thought that if I got my first tattoo in the most painful spot I would never get another one. She was so wrong, I am on tattoo number six and still counting. I learned that if I’m dead set on getting something nothing will stop me. Thanks for making me stronger mom, you’re the best.

Is it right to kill animals that help us?

Did you know that over 8 million cats and dogs enter shelters every year? Most of those shelters are kill shelters meaning if the animals don’t get adopted by a current time point the animal is put down. If we were to stop these kill shelters we can save lives and give these lonely animals a purpose, as well as help the environment and people. Animals have many reasons not to be put down. Animals helps humans and the environment. Humans benefit from animals in more ways than you know. Dogs help boost oxytocin levels with only using their eyes. They do this by just looking at you. That moment of gazing into each other’s eyes increases both dog and humans Oxytocin. If you didn’t know, Oxytocin is hormone released into your body makes the pituitary gland and is responsible for human behaviors associated with relationships and bonding. Animals like dogs also boost your immune system. Have you ever got a sloppy kiss from your pup? ‘Evidence from a 2012 study that having a dog track dirt into the house raises the immune system of children’ (Thorpe 5). In the long run dogs save your life, so let’s save there’s. Cats also help us in many ways too, they help with loneliness and companionship. ‘Cats have been shown to help people get over their loss more quickly, and shows less physical symptoms of pain, like crying’ (Benjamin 3). I think that’s were people get the phrase ‘The Crazy Cat Lady’. Cats and dog help save the earth. I know what you’re thinking, how can these animals help the earth? There are many ways they help it, something as little as digging a hole and exposing it to the air or even burying bones help renew and enriches the soil which helps plants grow better. You know we need a plants oxygen to help us breathe. Animals pooing also helps the environment by reducing the amount of methane gas. Animals help protect endangered animals and plants. ‘On the Warrnambool’s Middle Island, off the coast of Australia, Maremma sheepdogs are used to protect endangered Little Penguins’ (Shaffer 7). If we keep killing animals in kill shelters who will help earth? There are people out there are wouldn’t agree with stopping animal kill shelter being they feel that we are over populated. But to stop that all you must do is fix the animals so they can’t have babies. The amount of money the government uses to put these animals down can be put to fixing them to stop this over population. It probably would be cheaper too.  Why should be put down animals in a kill shelter when other animals benefit from them. A poor dog that’s going to be put down could be helping a human with improving their health. Cats that are on death row could be helping their owner with loneliness. If we were to stop these kill shelters we can save lives and give these lonely animals a purpose. They help us, so it’s our turn to help them.

Citations

Benjamin, Kathy. ’10 Scientific Benefits of Being a Cat Owner.’ Mental floss. Austin               Thompson, Erin McCarthy. http://mentalfloss.com/article/51154/10-scientific-      benefits-being-cat-owner. 14 February 2017. Shaffer, Griffin.

’14 Ways Dogs Help Save the Earth.’ barkpost.             http://stories.barkpost.com/ways-dogs-help-save-the-earth/. 14 February 2017. Thorpe, JR.

‘6 Ways Dogs Are Helpful to Humans’ Mental and Physical Health (As If You Needed     Another Reason to Love Them).’ Bustle.     https://www.bustle.com/articles/77450-6-ways-dogs-are-helpful-to-humans-mental-and-physical-health-as-if-you-needed-another. 14 February 2017.

Is it right to kill animals that help us?

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