Toddlers and Tiaras" Shocker -- 4-Year-Old Performs With A Cigarette

[KulrMeStoopid]

http://www.toofab.com/2012/08/30/toddlers-and-tiaras-4-year-old-contestant-destiny-cigarette/


Prop Ciggy, go watch the vid, what do you think?

 

[Mark]

Can't watch it all. Makes me more nauseous than I am already!

 

[KulrMeStoopid]

LMAO I HATE toddlers and tiara's all because of the Jon Benet Ramsey thing years ago, but to have your 4 yr old puffin on a fake ciggy that lights up in a pagent is beyond me.

 

[Mark]

Whatever happened to childhood.

 

[Purplefowler]

The whole programme creeps me out. I know it's a very American thing (pagents that is, not giving kids smokes!) but I just feel really uncomfortable watching it. It's like those kids we used to have over here that used to sing pop songs dressed up like adults, was it the mini pops or something. Sorry 6 year old kids singing like a virgin is just wrong on every level. Kids should be kids, adults should be adults, separate the 2! You wouldn't give a kid a real cigarette so why do it in a pagent! Just plain wrong!

 

[ZT]

2 seconds in was enough for me!

 

[[email protected]]

The pushy parent trying to obtain glory vicariously through exploitation of their child is enough to make my toes curl. However I don't see an issue with the prop cigarette, the child is too young to understand it and it's part of the piece, so I say - so what? What does disturb me is the choice of the piece and the readiness of the parent to present their child in this way. The hair, the pose, the makeup and the leathers are all much worse than the prop cigarette if you ask me. And the organisers and other parents don't turn a hair at this but are all agog because of a phony cigarette? Aw get real.

 

[Mark]

I didn't watch it all. Was it a phony cigarette? I have no issues with children dressing up as adults. It's what children do. They mimic adult behaviours. Good and bad. Wether they understand the nature of a cigarette is quite irrelevant if it appears to be the norm. So encouraging a child to parody a grown up in this way is irresponsible. I started experimenting with cigarettes stolen from my parents in the early 70's when everybody smoked. All of the adults in my family, the neighbours, the man wo ran the locals newsagent, my teachers. Even the local bobby would be seen sparking up. But even then I'm damn sure my parents would not have found anything remotely ok about allowing let alone encouraging me to pretend to smoke a fag in private let alone before an audience of their friends.

I suppose there is some irony in the fact it was ok for me to dress up as a cowboy with my mini Stetson and cap gun pretending to go around slaughtering an indigenous population of Indians whose only crime was to live in the neighbourhood I wanted for myself and whose language and way of life I didn't care for

 

[steffijade]

Unfortunately, I couldn't watch the video in question.... as soon as the 30 second advertisement started I closed the page.

Whilst I think it's wrong for parents to push their children too hard I don't see anything inherrently wrong with the kid using a 'prop' ciggy ... any more than i would see anything wrong in kids using 'prop' toy guns or a 'prop' baby doll.

At least the bairn isn't sat vegetating in front of the telly or xbox.

 

[Mark]

At least with my prop toy gun I was out in the fresh air, running about getting healthy exercise whilst enthusiastically pretending to kill things