Another season of my least favorite reality show is in full swing, rearing its ugly head (ironic!): Toddlers & Tiaras.  For those who aren't familiar, the show follows the sad world of child beauty pageants, in which the tiny tots are bleached, tanned, capped, and waxed so as to parade in twisted sideshows to sane people's abject horror.

It's not even the TV show that bothers me so much (after all, plenty of moms trade their children's privacy for a quick buck, KateGosselinSaysWhat?); it's the idea of 4-year-olds competing in beauty pageants, period.

Parents and pageant professionals tart up these poor children, removing any trace of what makes them little girls (see: "flippers"), having them compete like painted automatons to see who is "prettiest" of the fake kids.  As if being a pint-sized Dolly Parton is what's really important in life.  As if every little girl isn't beautiful in her own way.

Time after time, the mothers justify their presence in pageants by exclaiming that, oh, their daughters simply love them, the little ones simply insist on traveling around, smiling to their cheeks hurt!  The fact is, a child loves what makes her mother, the center of her universe, happy.  And if being mommy's living, breathing, baby doll makes mama happy, well, "Smile Baby!"

These girls will have major societal pressure to be beautiful soon enough.  They are, after all, females living in this country.  So, why subject them to this pressure so early on when they should be carefree--running, learning, creating, imagining?  Why should these little girls worry about hair dye and false eyelashes at the age of 5?  I can't think of anything sadder.

A mother's job is to give her child self-esteem that comes, not from fleeting outer beauty, but from her talents, humanity, and intelligence.  I shudder to think of how difficult puberty will be for these pageant girls.  I see their worlds crumbling at the sight of their first pimples.  And I wonder if these moms will still have the same interest in their gangly, gawky, awkward 13-year-olds.  For the daughters' sakes, I hope so.  But I have my doubts.