Toddlers and Tiaras/Tear Jerker


 * There was one family with two daughters and they were competing for the first time against each other. The older girl kept saying how she knew her little sister would win because she's always the cutest and gets the best stuff. You could see her self esteem plummet.
 * Similarly is the Sterling twin's mom. She has three other daughters and all five do pageants. Breanne wins a lot more than her twin Ashlynn and the mom keeps praising her while putting Ashlynn down ("she's...just Ashlynn" "kind of skinny" "kind of big nose" "Breanne looks more like mommy") and Ashlynn tearfully confessed that she doesn't like competing against Breanne because Breanne always beats her.
 * Taken Up to Eleven when Ashlynn found that her dress was somehow ripped (no one knew how) and the mom sighed "well, the dress in the mail is new, but it's for Breanne. I guess I can fix this even though I don't have time." While they're sitting in a pile of other dresses. The mother than declared "besides, Breanne's the one that needs to try on a dress" sweeping Ashlynn under the rug.
 * Ashlynn really came across as a Woobie to a lot of people. Like when she wasn't twirling "correctly" and the mother huffed "someone else get up here. Breanne, show her how to do it" That mother earned her place as one of their top controversial moms.
 * What's sad is that, in one episode that featured them, Breanna threw a hissyfit and won a lower prize than Ashlynn (who won two prizes) but Breanne still bragged that she "beat" her sister.
 * Alaska and her brother Braxton, who is clearly favored by their mother, who keeps talking about how beautiful her son is and how he always wins. She calls blonde, blue-eyed Alaska's looks 'cookie-cutter' and says she'd better be prepared to lose gracefully against her brother.
 * "I'm Alaska. My biggest supporter would be, um--I don't really have one."
 * Most viewers are annoyed whenever a child under the age of 1 1/2 wins, because they've seen girls do talents and prance, and at least do something but nope, baby in a pimped-out dress wins.
 * Made worse in one episode, where there were 2 babies, twin 1 year olds. One pitched a fit and only calmed down right before they got her on stage and then was quiet and sulky. The other smile and danced a bit and you heard the mom say how proud she was because she was normally so shy. The first baby won.
 * This led to the obnoxious 4-or-5 year old Mackenzie making a point one would not expect from such a Spoiled Brat: "It's just a baby. She didn't even do nothin'"
 * That was actually Danielle, who was even more of a spoiled brat (if possible) than Mackenzie. Danielle was also nine, giving her no excuse for her behaviour.
 * Poor, poor Carly, whose mom Melissa dragged her aside several times an whispered threats ("the Ipod will be gone" "you're going to be a sorry girl" "We're on television!") when Carly didn't want to keep practicing. Made worse by her mom's constant posturing for the camera with bright, wide smiles that made it all worse.
 * It Got Worse: Carly has developed a fledgling split personality, Darla, who loves pageants and is outgoing, and a total diva because that way she can get through it. There's a heartbreaking video ( second one on the page ) where she tells the interviewer to call her Darla and talks about how she [Darla] told herself [Carly]] to stay home because Carly doesn't do well at pageants.
 * The mother encourages it, saying things like "I'd better be talking to Dar right now"
 * Or the more heartbreaking "yeah, Carly better be in the car" when talking to "Darla" about which one she needs right now.
 * Plus there's the irony when the mother says, point blank: "I feel like her and I are the same person, we live the same life… and I just feel like that is me on the stage." It's never gotten more blatant than that.
 * One contestant, SamiJo, is only a year old. Her mother said that the only reason she wanted a daughter is so that she could compete in pageants.
 * Sammi Jo also has a Pimped-Out Dress...that was made in a way that doesn't account for a wiggling baby. Her mother duct taped it to her skin so it would stay on properly.
 * She's now two and her parents split over her father not likeing that they spent over 100k (by his estimation) on pageants. And her mother is still pushing pageants, despite admitting that they're now in a smaller house and the mom is doing sexy advertising to make enough money to enter her. This girl is going to be very, very messed up when she's older.