FROMONLINE | 2011-05-15

  • By Tami Lange
  • May 15, 2011
  • 318
                        
You’re Beautiful – Because I say So What parent would be moved to change their child to make them prettier? Not this one In my 11 seemingly endless years as a parent, I’ll admit I’ve made some mistakes. I probably didn’t secure the child seat properly every time I put it in the car. I have been known to hit a fast food drive thru when vegetables would have been so much better. I might have “helped” a little too much on a particularly difficult homework problem. But I have never, ever even considered filling my beautiful boy’s head with Botox. And if I had a girl child, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have tried it on her either. Kerry Campbell apparently thinks a little “freshening up” of her 8-year-old daughter’s face isn’t such a bad thing, especially when it comes to beauty pageant prep. I think Kerry Campbell might be injecting Crazy Juice into her brain. And it seems now that her local family protective services agrees. Upon hearing this story last week, my first reaction was “what 8-year-old girl has wrinkles?” My second question? “What 8-year-old girl’s mother checks her daughter for wrinkles?” It’s the season of beauty, what with all the proms and the yearbooks and the senior pictures and weddings. I was thinking about Kerry Campbell as I looked through The Nipper’s freshly printed yearbook. The girls in his class are adorable, not in a Gisele Bunchen way, of course. What makes these young ladies so adorable are the crooked bangs, the still-new glasses, the teeth that have not yet aligned, the tomboyishness of some, the “girliness” of others. The boys are adorable in their own goofy ways. And some day, sooner than later for some, they’re all going to blossom in their own unique ways. It happens. They turn from children to tweens, to teens and eventually into fully formed adults. Some, like The Nipper, are going to have a scar or two (Nipper’s came from a tumble down the hill through some old drainage tile), others will boast perfect skin and great hair. Kerry Campbell’s daughter is going to arrive at adulthood with a frozen forehead. And maybe the frozen forehead works for Nicole Kidman, but it’s not something I’d expect a mother to encourage. Any mom will tell you her children are perfect just the way they are. I think my mom would have said that when I was a kid (of course, it was Mom who was responsible for my crooked bangs, so what else could she say?) I don’t get moms like Kerry Campbell. I’ve watched “Toddlers & Tiaras,” although I’m not really proud to admit it. It’s sort of like a car accident: you don’t want to look, but some sort of sick curiosity takes over and you can’t help yourself. I’m all about playing dress up, messing with Mom’s make-up and hair tools. But seriously? Thousands of dollars and ridiculous ways to “perk” your contestant-child up. The crying, the false veneers, the sexualization of the pre-adolescent child. Is that good parenting? What message do kids like Kerry Campbell’s daughter get? “Mommy loves you, but you’d be even better without that nasty mole on your cheek?” Graduations are starting. Some kids will give their valedictory addresses. Others are accepting college scholarships. Some are looking to start jobs. Every single one of them had to work to get that cap and gown. It had nothing to do with their looks. Where they go, what they do will have very little to do with whether they are prematurely wrinkled. Look back through history. Sure, it’s no sin to be beautiful, but many of the world’s leaders, movers and shakers would not have made the cover of Vogue. What could be worse for a child than trying to change them, to homogenize them into the perfect ideal somehow burned into their parents’ minds. The Nipper has my facial features. Unfortunately, he also seems to have my temper. But he also has his father’s sense of humor and his ability to see good in and love all things, great and small. And, of course, he’s gorgeous just the way he is. But what do I know? I’m just his Mom. Wooster Weekly News columnist Tami Lange can be reached via e-mail at tam108@hotmail.


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