Category: Australia

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Is there no Aussie Talent?

Is there no Aussie Talent, or does Tall Poppy Syndrome mean Aussie’s need a foreigner to validate them?

Keith Urban has announced he is leaving The Voice Australia and it looks like he will be heading to American Idol. Who can blame the guy? He’ll probably earn about 20 times more on a US show than he would in Australia. He’s also at home in the US, since until The Voice, he was probably much more famous in the US than he was in Australia. He’s had a home in Nashville for many, many years. He was a household name, he’s well liked and respected. Until The Voice, the poor guy was better known as Mrs Nicole Kidman by people in his home country. The Voice gave Australia a great opportunity to  get to know Keith. To know his music, to know him as a person. Keith finally got to feel some love from Australians. He finally had a hit in Australia.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if Australian producers gave that same opportunity to another Australian artist?

The Australian psyche is complex. They like the “Little Aussie Battler”. They like the underdog. They like people who are almost famous. But as soon as that person becomes successful, they’re suddenly too big for their boots. They’re ostracized. They’re no longer loved. Then, feeling like they’re no longer welcome by Australia, that person will move overseas and climb the ladder again. While they’re doing it, that person is a “sell out”. Then, when they make it big overseas, all of a sudden, they’re once again LOVED by Australians. All of a sudden, they’re one of ours. They’re making Australia proud. They’re representing! Remember Kylie Minogue in the early 1990’s when she won 4 Logies? It was like overnight, people hated her. There was such a backlash. Then, she went overseas and made it huge in England. She made an impression in the US too. Then, she was a huge hit with Aussie’s and everyone wanted to claim her as their own.

I am also amused by the people who aren’t born in Australia but grew up there, who then move overseas. Think Russell Crowe. When he fucks up, he’s a damn Kiwi. When he’s winning an Oscar, he’s an Awesome Aussie. Actually, Keith Urban was also born in New Zealand…

australias-got-talentThen, we’ve also got an obsession with needing to be validated by Stars from overseas. Can you think of a Logies that didn’t have some international guest? Even for the races like the Melbourne Cup, or something as mundane as a Nightclub opening, they’re flying in some special guest from overseas. Even Excess Baggage had Kevin Federline. Seriously people, how bad is it when you’re importing Kevin Federline? Even if they do fly in an Aussie, they treat them differently. Fly in an American, well, they get a first class ticket. Flying in an Aussie, they get coach… Why the need to roll out the red carpet for foreigners, but not for your own?

The X-Factor has Mel B and Ronan Keating. The Voice has Seal and Joel Madden.  Australia’s Got Talent has Brian McFadden. Even that Everybody Dance Now had Jason Derulo & Kelly Rowland. Maybe that one would have lasted longer if they had at least one Aussie on there….

Ok, it’s a global world now and people move around and work in other countries. But it seems like each show is only half Australian talent and half guest worker. Now that Keith is leaving, the names they’re throwing out there are ALL foreigners. Is there seriously no-one in Australia that could take his place? Is there no Aussie singer who wouldn’t be fabulous as a judge/coach? Is there not an Aussie who could step up? Even if you did like they did with Keith Urban, and brought an Aussie back from overseas to work on the show. Let Australia get re-acquainted with an old friend. Let someone who had moved overseas to be successful come home and feel the love.

Australians need to let go of the Tall Poppy Syndrome, and start showing some love for one of their own. Australians are talented. They have personality. They’re quite capable of being a judge or a host on an Australian show. I hope they pick another Aussie host for The Voice. I hope as people leave these shows, they start filling their places with other Aussie’s too.

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ICE arrests convicted sex offenders

ICE teams throughout Texas arrest 50 convicted sex offenders and other criminal aliens

This is awesome! Every day at work I read reports of aliens caught on the Border who have some kind of criminal conviction, usually pretty terrible ones. The USBP Agents and the other law enforcement Agents do their best, but so many just keep on slipping through. The US Marshals do round ups, and sometimes we just get them by chance, while they’re doing something else stupid, like Drinking and Driving. It seems like ICE has had their hands tied for a while, but after they came out against the Administration a month or so ago, complaining they were being prevented from doing their jobs, they’ve been going into overtime, making up for lost time. It’s super busy right now. Since Obama announced the Dream Act, it’s a non stop flow of people trying to make it over….

So here’s this press release from ICE. Of course, since they were targeting sex offenders, you know I’m a super happy camper. Kinda awesome it came out the same day as Bravehearts put out a statement on their views on convicted sex offenders having passports.

Here’s a snippet of the ICE press release:

Following a five-day Texas-wide U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation, 50 convicted alien sex offenders and other criminal aliens were arrested by officers with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).  ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) also assisted with this operation.

The goal of this operation, dubbed “SOAR” (Sex Offender Alien Removal), was to identify, locate and arrest aliens who have convictions for sex crimes, especially sex crimes against children.  This is the first statewide operation that specifically targeted this criminal element. This operation was coordinated with ERO’s 16 Fugitive Operations Teams throughout Texas, and Texas DPS.  Four Fugitive Operations Teams operated from Dallas and north Texas.

Of the 24 men arrested in north Texas, 15 had prior convictions for sex crimes such as:  indecency with a child, sexual conduct; unlawful sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child; sex offense against a child, fondling; and sexual battery of a minor. Seven of those arrested in north Texas had been previously removed from the country and illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

Bravehearts Position Statement on Child Sex Offenders and International Travel:

Recent media reports have highlighted the issue of hundreds of convicted child sex offenders travelling overseas.  In just the first two months of 2012, Australian Federal Police (AFP) statistics reported that 195 of the 143,000 offenders registered on the Australian National Child Offender Register (ANCOR) travelled internationally, with many offenders travelling to known, vulnerable countries.Australian Federal Police statistics show that over a quarter of these offenders travel to Denpasar, with Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Nadi, Hong Kong and Manilla among the ‘top ten’ destinations.

While the Australian Federal Police Child Protection Operations Intelligence Unit assists in monitoring individuals who are recorded on the Australian National Child Offender Register travelling overseas, tracking offenders in many countries remains exceedingly difficult.

The Australian Federal Police work closely with local authorities, alerting them when a registered offender is travelling to their country and deploying liaison officers to many international jurisdictions. However, in some cases local authorities do not have the resources, support or experience to appropriately respond.

Bravehearts position on child sex offenders and international travel is that:

On release, and until such time as the offender is no longer under supervision orders, all child sex offenders must forfeit their passport.

Where the offender is no longer under a supervision order, as long as they remain a registered person on the Australian National Child Offender Register, the offender must inform police within at least 7 days advance if they intend to travel outside of Australia.

So ICE wants sex offenders to go home, and Bravehearts wants them to stay home. If only I could get the two to team up together…

Oh, and I just noticed my face on the Bravehearts page! Cool. Hope everyone had a great White Balloon Day. I hope when the case is over, I can come back and attend some events at the next one.

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White Balloon Day – Sept 7th

It’s All White To Say No.

Hey everyone, don’t forget that September 7th, 2012 is White Balloon Day. Go to the Bravehearts White Balloon Day website to find out how to get involved. www.whiteballoonday.com.au/

There’s events happening in every State, so there’s bound to be something near you. If not, why not go ahead and plan an event? You can buy a white balloon, or dress in white for the day. Encourage your friends to get involved. Raise some money, raise some awareness.

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Australian Government to establish National Children’s Commissioner

Australia’s Youth to have a say in their own rights.

While reading the Aussie news online, I veered over to The Punch as I often do, and I saw an interesting article by Chris Varney called Kids, Don’t pipe down.

Chris talks about how he met with some kids, and talks about his own battles with Aspergers. Go read the article, but refrain from going to the comments. There’s a lot of special people who comment on The Punch…

What I got out of the article was that Australia was not doing so well with the UN, (of course, that’s nothing new. Does the UN ever have nice things to say about Australia?) and that now Australia was going to be getting a National Children’s Commissioner. How does Australia not already have such a position? Here’s a link to the announcement by the govt. They’re only announcing that they’re creating the position. It says they will later ask for submissions for the position. Maybe they already started the application process and I’ve just missed it. But still, this is 2012. How does Australia not already have someone who is dedicated to protecting kids? I mean, third world countries have people dedicated to protecting kids. Do people just expect that because Australia is a first world country that our kids are all just fine and dandy? That Australian kids don’t need help?

I can tell you first hand that kids don’t have it perfect in Australia. I also know that plenty of kids have great ideas on how to make it better. Matt and I have been involved with Venturing for years. It’s a co-ed part of Boy Scouts – teens 14 to 21. It’s great because it’s high adventure and everything is left up to the kids. The adults are simply there to supervise and provide an ear. All the decisions are left up to the kids. It teaches them to be involved, to make decisions, to stand up and be heard. If they want to go camping, it’s up to them to plan it, implement it, make sure that everything is smooth. The adults are just there to supervise and answer any questions the kids might have. Oh, and they’re also there to do the driving. 😉 Venturing reminds adults that kids are great at doing things for themselves. They’re great at problem solving and thinking out of the box. They’re great at self regulating, and they’re also many times a lot more fair than what adults would be. Given the opportunity to be listened to like adults, most kids will act like one.

I love that the Children’s Commissioner will be working alongside kids. “Crucially, the Commissioner will consult directly with children and young people to ensure their voices are heard and their needs pursued.” I hope they find a person who will actually listen to the kids, and not just hear them. I hope they find someone who values younger people’s opinions, not someone who just thinks it’s cute a kid has an idea, but then just dismisses it.

This is a huge opportunity for the Australian Govt to step up and really help Australia’s youth. It’s also a great opportunity for someone who’s interested in helping Australia’s kids to stand up and be heard. If I was in Australia, this would be the kid of thing I would love to do. Actually, this is the kid of thing I would return to Australia for.

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it’s all White to Say NO!

White Balloon Day is almost here

White Balloon Day is September 7th. What do you have planned? Check out the White Balloon Day website to see events have already been planned that you can attend, or register your own event.

a dollar sign is the cheesiest, but Bravehearts could really use your cash. It’s the biggest fundraising event of the year. All of your donations are tax deductible.

Right now there’s a lot of events planned in QLD, but NSW could really use some superstars to organize some events. Let’s make this year HUGE!

I really wish I could be there this year, unfortunately, it looks like I won’t be able to attend any events while my investigation is still underway.

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The Power of Social Media

Make friends in Minutes.

When I was a kid, I had penpals. The kind you had to actually use a pen to write to. Then, you’d send the letter off, and a few weeks later, you’d get a letter back. Sometimes I miss the days of real letters.

I’m also very grateful for new technology. If it wasn’t for Facebook and feeling like I’m still a part of the lives of my friends back in Australia, I think I’d be a lot more homesick. I love that I can read the Australian newspaper everyday and I love that there’s an app for the 2DayFM radio station so I can listen to Aussie accents here. I enjoy watching the Aussie news over the internet, even if it is in small 3 minute blocks.

When I’m having a bad day, I can email someone and get a response back and feel better in minutes. When Corey Feldman did his interview, it brought back a lot of memories and some heavy emotions. Then I got an email from another child actress. She had famously gone public in the US and pissed a lot of people off. She had been following my case in the media, and another friend on FB put us in touch with each other.  She wrote me a couple emails and put everything very matter of factly. In the first email she talked about the balance of power in assault cases. She called it “sexual abuse vs fame public reaction mathematical algorithm” The public’s belief in and support of a victim of rape/sexual abuse is directly proportional to the fame and “likeability” of the victim, and inversely proportional to the fame and “likability” of the perpetrator. In other words, when a victim goes public with her story the response she receives will have nothing to do with the severity of the rape, number of occurrences or age at when the crime occurred. It will be based solely on her fame/power vs the fame/power of her perpetrator. She had several examples, and it was kind of a downer, because I’m not the famous/rich one in this case….

Her second email however was like a revelation and has helped me tremendously. Also: Something to remember – that I had to learn – is that the apprehension, conviction and incarceration of your perpetrator is NOT actually YOUR responsibility. It is the responsibility of law enforcement.

But remember, when people attack you for speaking out: any trouble the bastard is in, is entirely HIS doing. You didn’t “get him in trouble” – HE DID when he started assaulting children.

By the same token, when those on your side harass you to do more, you are not on call to “put him in jail”.  You called the cops, it’s THEIR job to put him in jail.

This was the most empowering thing anyone has ever told me. It lifted the weight off me. She was right. I had done my duty and told the police. I gave them my statement. I invited them into my home in Texas and continued the investigation here. When they email me or call, I answer them the best I can. A lot of people may not agree with the way the investigation started, but it was MY journey, not theirs.

I have been laying low in Texas since the investigation started, because I was told I should. It was “duty” to go crawl back under a rock till it was over. I had to make sure there was a conviction. If I didn’t stay quiet, it was my fault if the case for the other girls didn’t pan out.

I’m sorry, but it’s NOT my responsibility. I will do my best to help the police in any way I can, but I’m not going to stop posting on my blog, or be social on twitter, or talk to people on FB, or have conversations with people in real life just because there’s an investigation underway. I don’t know how long it could take. Nobody does, and people can’t realistically expect me to withdraw for years if it drags out that long. As long as I’m not talking about the investigation, there’s no reason I can’t also be an active member of social media.

Meanwhile, in the twitterverse, I think we’ve all been following what’s happening with Andy. His blog is now down off the internet, and he’s currently hiding hoping things will blow over. I’ve been amused that people have been so upset that I was quoted in the Sun as having laughed when I saw Andy in there. With the way Andy dishes on others, he has to expect that people give it back. And apparently he does. I got this PM from him this morning after someone called me a “nasty piece of work” on Twitter.

I’ve had some really interesting conversations with people over the last few days thanks to Social Media. It’s nice to be able to communicate instantly with people all over the world, instead of waiting till it’s already old news. That being said, I would still caution people to be careful what they say on the Internet. It’s easy to take things out of context. Sarcasm doesn’t convey well in 140 characters. You can still be taken out of context. Private doesn’t really mean private. Andy used to love grabbing screenshots on my PM’s to him, as I have done above. But, it also lets you communicate instantly and be able to check in on someone and make sure they’re OK.

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Social Media v’s Political Correctness

If you can’t be a good example, you’ll have to be a horrible warning.

I know what it’s like to be in the media. After going public last year, I really know what it’s like to be in the media. I know what it’s like to have every thing you say dissected, questioned, checked over and then be re-quoted incorrectly.

There’s thousands of pages on forums and blogs with people talking about what I did last year. A lot of them aren’t nice. If you have a few hours of your life to waste, drudge through the 100+ pages on the Whirlpool site. Do a Google search on me or the Hey Dad Scandal and then click blogs or discussions. It’s amazing at how many sites there are. Some of them are very supportive of me, some of them are downright scary. Like a site for expecting mothers who all call me a publicity whore. I hope their babies never come to them looking for help…. Then of course, there’s Andy Blume.

Now, at first look, Andy really is a professional c*nt, as he puts it. The first time I found his site in April of last year, as I was in the middle of the media circus, I couldn’t believe what he wrote about me. Then, as things settled down, I read through the rest of his site, to see what kind of troll he was. To be honest, a lot of Andy’s posts made me laugh, as they do a lot of other people. Andy says what a lot of people think, but don’t have the balls to say. Sure, he’s rude. Yes, he’s tasteless. But 10 years ago when I left Australia, being Politically Correct wasn’t in full swing yet. People could still take the piss out of themselves. My favourite are when he writes letters to big companies complaining of their terrible service or products. I never know if he really sends off what he’s written on the blog, or a toned down version of it, but a lot of us wish that’s what we could say. It’s what we tell our friends. It’s what we’re thinking as we write the polite version. So, after about 6 months, I forgave Andy. I understood his posts about me were part of his online character. If he had said something nice about me, people would have said, WTF Andy? We tweeted back and forth and when I did the one year update on ACA, he actually sent me a message warning me he was now going to have to do another post. I was prepared for it. It was actually pretty tame. Some of his friends made fun he had gone soft….

I’ve been working in SEO and Social Media for a few years now. Maybe it’s because I get to read so many white papers and sites on What Not To Do in Social Media and how to not lose your job with what you post on Twitter, but I thought everyone understood that what you do online affects what happens to you in real life. Employers are now looking at what you post on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites before they hire you. What you do online can get you fired. Maybe it’s not fair and maybe it’s not catching on that fast in Australia, but in the US, many companies will give you a fact sheet on “appropriate use” of social media, and give regular reminders throughout the year. Lots of people here are laid off because of something they did online.

You don’t have to be tweeting at work. You don’t have to say anything bad about your employer. But, if you post pictures of your late night binge at some club and then call in sick the next day saying you have the flu, expect someone might see it and you’re going to get called on it.

Back in the day, there was a lot more anonymity on the internet. Today, it’s all open. A lot of young people don’t realize that what they post now will come back to haunt them. The best phrase I ever heard was “Once tweeted, never deleted” because even if you delete it off your stream, it’s cached somewhere for someone to find. You don’t even have to post something, one of your buddies could do it and tag you. Or, you could post something anonymously, but through the powers of IP tracking, the IT gurus can still work out it’s you.

Pictures on FB are held on a server for over 6 months, even if you delete them. Pick a photo, copy the URL of that page, then delete the pic. A month later, go back to that URL… Your pic is still there. Also, a lot more people have access to your private pages, and even private messages than you think. I know the police have been reading my private messages. Basically, never say anything on the internet that you wouldn’t want on a postcard or displayed on a billboard.

I’m conflicted on the Andy Blume situation. At first I thought it was funny he got caught out. But I also felt bad for him. I try not to harbor resentment against anyone and I made my peace with Andy and his blog posts about me last year. I think he should have known better than to tweet while tramming, but he was called up on it a month ago and had stopped. I give him credit for using his real name on the Internet instead of hiding behind some fake alias to be such a huge douchebag. It’s a sign of how politically correct Australia has become when you can’t just have a laugh and move on, but instead have to get offended over every little thing. All of us have done something that someone else would think makes us a horrible person. ALL OF US. Before we judge others and hate upon them, we should think about ourselves and what we’ve done in life that others might not approve of. (You know, that whole glass houses thing)

I’m sure Andy will be OK. Someone will probably offer him a job on TV…. but it’s got to suck being fired in this economy.

At this point, I’m not sure if everyone will see Andy as a warning not to tweet about their jobs and make sure they’re always PC, or if this will make people go back to having anonymous avatars and fake names. Frankly, I’m not sure which of the two is worse.

Good luck Andy. I hope you find a new job. Just remember, people are watching you now….

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Celebrity Reality Shows

Celebrity Reality Shows

Cast of Surreal Life, season 1

Why do we love watching these celebrity train wrecks reality shows? How many celebreality shows are on TV right now? Here in the US, there’s dozens of them. Celebrity Apprentice, Celebrity Fit Club, Celebrity Rehab, Dancing with the Stars, I’m a Celebrity; Get me out of here, the Kardashians and all their spin offs, all the different Real Housewives, the Girls Next Door and the list just goes on…

Of course there’s never any A list stars on these shows. They’re busy working, or, have a team that doesn’t want them doing reality. The only time they’re allowed to speak in public is when doing publicity on a talk show and they have all the questions prepared up front.
Which is what makes Celebreality TV so fascinating. You never know what’s going to happen. For the most part, it’s not scripted. It’s filmed over a few weeks, so people can’t be all sunshine and light and fake being fabulous Miss Congeniality the whole time. You get to see people’s somewhat real personalities come through. I say somewhat, because it is TV and these are mostly actors. They are going to ham it up for the cameras and of course the editors are going to cut stuff up for dramatic effect.

Who doesn’t love watching Celebrities explode on shows like Celebrity Apprentice? Or take a bunch of has-beens and throw them into a house together like on the Surreal Life. I know there’s a bunch of high brow folk who claim they don’t watch anything that’s not on the ABC, but we know reality TV is their dirty little pleasure too. I know they watch, because even though they claim they don’t, they can list all the reasons why, including all the best bits of each episode…

We get to see our favourite TV stars and find out what they’re really like. We get to see if they’re total pretentious dickheads or if they’re just like you and me. Some stars are total Divas. Others are surprisingly down to earth. Also, the other great thing about Celebrity competition type shows is that instead of trying to win cash for themselves, the celebs are raising money for charity. What charity doesn’t need a couple thousand dollars and untold amounts of free publicity? The Hey Dad..! cast did Celebrity Family Fued back in the day and we got a day trip to Brissie and raised money for (I think it was) the Children’s Hospital. We didn’t win the big prize. I was the final quiz person, but we did raise a couple thousand dollars. They gave me a telephone for my appearance. I swapped it with Julie who actually needed a phone. They had giver her a beautiful gold fountain pen I liked much better. 😉 I remember it was fun because that was back in the day when you actually got to fly first class. Back when Ansett was still in operation.  I think the only other time I flew first class was on a trip to the Logies. Studios just don’t pay for good seats anymore. 🙁

Anyway, I’m pretty excited to see an Australian version of Celebrity Apprentice popping up. They’ve already got Pauline Hanson, who was on Dancing With The Stars. There’s some pretty good innuendos about who else will be on there. I’m not sure they’re going to have the same heated arguments that the US version does. Aussie’s are way too laid back for that kind of drama…. Still, I hope they end up showing the Aussie version here in the US.

I wonder what other kinds of Celebreality shows are in the works? Maybe they could do a Surreal Life Australia. I know just the has-been for that one. 😉

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Naughty boy Andy!

When the past catches up to you…

Today, while on FB, I noticed a picture attached to a newspaper article link and I immediately recognized the photo and I just had to laugh.

Andy Blume wrote an awful blog post about me last year. People commenting on his blog weren’t much nicer. I followed Andy on twitter and we bantered back and forth. He actually warned me before he wrote his second blog post.

I often wondered if Andy was really a tram driver. I wondered how someone could tweet while driving and get away with it. I guess this week he took a pic of someone who really didn’t like it. Or he crashed into them.

The Herald Sun wrote a story on Andy and reported his blog and twitter account to Yarra Trams. There’s even a second opinion piece…

Oh Andy, I guess now you’ll know what it’s like to be on the Internet and have people judging you.

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Beauty Pageants

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Pageants

Elissa Doherty from The Herald Sun had asked my thoughts on the new Kid Pageants coming to Australia. She was asking my opinion since the new company is based in my home of Texas, and as someone who grew up on TV and is now an Ambassador for Bravehearts. Here’s my thoughts on it. Be sure you check our her articles on the matter too.

When I was a kid back in Australia, and I was doing modeling, Mum had friends that had their kids in pageants.

Back then, pageants weren’t just about glitz and glamour. The pageants were a way for kids to learn grace and poise, like taking a deportment class. They were also about raising money for charities and teaching kids about philanthropy and giving back to their community. Beauty pageants were about being beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. Back then, it wasn’t always the prettiest kid who won. It was usually the one who had raised the most money for charity. Sure, this may have pissed of the parent who thought their kid should have won because she was the prettiest, but it was about the whole package.

As I got older, I forget about pageants. I see Queens and Princess all the time over here. San Antonio has a huge Fiesta celebration every year. It’s when all the rich people in town have a big party, someone get’s crowned King Antonio and there’s also a King Antonio. One year, one of the my friends who was the official photographer for the King asked me to be his second camera. I spent all week in this ridiculous cavalcade. Everyone was dressed up, and we had a police escort everywhere we went. We went to one party and function after the other, where money was presented to different charities. They said it costs about $1 million dollars to be king for the year. You also have to be a member of the Cavaliers, which is a club here in San Antonio. Rey Feo is pretty much the same deal. Last year, our next door neighbour had their daughter come home from Cornell so she could be a Princess for Fiesta. That honor cost them almost $100k in dresses and events. But, she did get to spend a week hobnobbing with all the right people…. To those outside the “inner circle” it’s just a big party, like Carnival or Mardi Gras.

Apart from Fiesta, each little town around here has a Queen and Princess. In Stockdale, where we have our ranch, we get to see the Royal court when we go to the rodeo. They aren’t wearing flash dresses, they’re normally in wranglers and cowboy boots.I’m not sure on their process to get there, but being the local Queen means you can then compete in each bigger competition, until you become Miss Texas and then Miss USA. Of course, there’s so many different competitions these days, I can’t keep up. There’s Miss Texas, Miss Texas International (WTF?) Miss Rodeo Texas, Rodeo Queen and about a dozen others.

Somewhere along the way, people worked out there was big money in pageants. Especially now that you’ve got things like Toddlers and Tiaras making a show about it.

The people behind the Toddlers and Tiaras pageant have gone a different route. They don’t raise money for charity. They don’t pick one winner who takes all. Instead, they pander to parents who think their kid should never understand losing. Every kid gets a prize. I know that seems like a nice thing, but honestly, what are you teaching your kid? That as long as you turn up, that’s enough. You’ll get a prize anyway…

Tiny girls in bikinis. So not appropriate!

Kids no longer wear a party dress. They have these ridiculously elaborate gowns that costs thousands of dollars. They wear a tonne of make-up. They are even wearing false teeth and fake tans. Essentially, they have gotten rid of everything that had to do with kids pageants, and turned it into an adult pageants for toddlers.

I’m sure that the TV show Toddlers and Tiaras has filmed and edited it to make it as dramatic as possible. They show the most outlandish parents and the biggest tantrums. They show all that is wrong with pageants, because controversy creates ratings.

However, when you take away all that’s good about pageants, like teaching kids confidence, public speaking, grooming, philanthropy and most importantly, inner beauty and replace that with creepy looking kids who are being over-sexualized and taught to win at any cost, it just becomes sad.

I know kids are pushed into many things they don’t like to do. I had friends as kids who were ball room dancers and figure skaters. Both had to practice long hard hours and wore skimpy outfits when they competed. They didn’t always want to be there. If they’d had a reality show following them around, I’m sure they couldn’t caught parents having a fit and kids throwing a tantrum too. Shit, if we’d had cameras following me around as a kid, I’m sure they would have seen me have plenty of tantrums.

I’m not defending the pageants. I don’t like where they’ve gone. I don’t like the idea of small kids thinking that the only thing that

matters in life is being fake beautiful. I say fake, because everything about them is fake. Teeth, nails, hair, tan and even personalities. Then, even after all that primping, they’re airbrushing the photos. Seriously, does a 3 year old need to be airbrushed? A kid should look like a kid, not some doll or mini adult.

They’re not competing for a good cause. It’s just for the company to raise money for itself. What is that teaching kids? Pay $300 and we’ll give you a trophy telling you your pretty? How about we just tell kids they’re beautiful. I wish I had been told I was beautiful when I was a kid.

Is she 4 or 24?

Kids should be allowed to be kids. They should be allowed to feel beautiful as they are. They’ve got their whole life to grow up

and wear make-up. Childhood is sacred. Lets celebrate our kids, but as kids. Childhood goes by so fast, and you can never get it back again. Lets not force our kids to grow up before they’re ready.

As someone who has been working since the age of 3, as someone who was forced to grow up before my friends, and as someone who ended up as a Bravehearts Ambassador, I ask parents to really think before they put their kids into a pageant.

Ask your kids if it’s what they want to do. It has to be what they want. Just because you think they’re pretty, or because you want

to live vicariously through them, is NOT a reason to put them in a pageant. Ask them why they want to be in a pageant. If they have dreams of one day being Miss Australia, fine. If they tell you it’s because they want to feel pretty, then you need to tell them they are pretty.You need to make sure your kids know you love them and think they’re beautiful. You also need to tell them beauty is on the inside. It’s not just make-up and clothes.

Also, find a pageant that’s doing more than just making money for themselves. Do it to raise money for charity. Teach your kids there’s nothing more beautiful than helping others.

Pageant or Playboy?

Do not enter your kids into a pageant that makes them look like mini Playboy Bunnies. It’s just creepy looking at little girls with big blonde hair, fake teeth and posing like they’re in a centerfold. It’s just glorified kiddie-porn. Don’t do that to your kids. We don’t need to sexualize our kids. We don’t need to desensitize society to that either. We don’t need to tempt pedophiles by offering them little girls dressed up as big girls.

Whether you decide if pageants are right for you and your kids or not, make sure you know your kids are beautiful.What you tell them as children will stay with them forever, or at least take a lot of counseling to get over.

Back in the Hey Dad days, I asked my Mum once if I was beautiful. I needed her to tell me I was. She told me no. She said I was pretty, but only grown ups could be beautiful. As those of us who are grown up know, we never feel like we’ve become an adult, so I never felt like I grew into being beautiful. No matter if anyone else told me I was beautiful, I never believed them because the most important person, my mother, told me I wasn’t.

Your kids don’t need a pageant, they just need you to tell them they’re beautiful.

Here’s a link to a new article.

Commissioner to vet child beauty pageant

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