Rebecca Eckler

I can’t watch Toddlers and Tiaras. But, because I’m on my computer most of the day, sometimes I read about what happened on “last night’s show.” I cannot believe that these mothers dress their kids like prostitutes, spray tan them, and put in fake boobs. I swear, one day, one of these American pageant mothers is going to Botox her four-year-old. And for what? A few thousand dollars and a sash?

I so try not to judge these mothers, because I don’t live in their shoes, and can’t be in their minds, and I wouldn’t have the patience anyway to drive my daughter all over the country or put lipstick on her. But I don’t have to watch it, which is my way of protesting the show.

And now there’s a new show called Dance Moms. I watched it recently and again was sickened. The show features a hard-ass dance teacher, somewhere in small town America, who teaches competitive dance. When she’s not yelling at her young students, she’s dealing with dance moms, who are there at her studio constantly watching with eagle eyes their daughters during class, comparing their daughters to other mother’s daughters, and bitching about the costumes, all while complaining that their daughter didn’t make it to the front row while performing. What shocked me the most was that these girls, all about age seven to nine, dance seven days a week for seven hours a day. Yes! Seven days a week for seven hours a day. Sometimes, they don’t get home until midnight.

Now while I do think that these mothers are living out their own lost dreams through their children, I have to say that the kids, unlike the young ones on Toddlers and Tiaras, who are often crying and saying they don’t want to be there, seem like they really, really, want to be there. These kids have stamina and big dreams.

And I thought I was being sort of a stage mom, in the sense that my daughter takes ballet twice a week (that’s only two hours a week!). I also thought she was a very good dancer. But, um, compared to her counterpart seven-year-olds in America, who dance seven hours a day, seven days a week, my daughter seems talentless.

To make a sweeping generalization, which I think is somewhat true; Americans and Canadians are so different when it comes to being stage moms. I want my daughter to excel at dance, and she loves it, but would I ever have the time, or would she have the time, to dance seven hours a day for seven days a week at age seven? These American mothers seem to think that this is perfectly normal, and maybe it is…where they live.

I don’t know one mother here who watches her daughter do anything for seven hours straight every day of the week. The National Ballet School is a joke compared to this school on Dance Moms. At least on Dance Moms, which I will not watch again, I saw that some of the girls really, really want to be great dancers, or maybe, be famous dancers. And I have no doubt that at least one of them in the class will be.

Do you think American mothers and Canadian mothers differ when it comes to things like competitive dance and pageants?

Follow me @rebeccaeckler

Thought that was sweet? You'll enjoy:

Would You Put Your Toddler in a Pageant?

Fall Activities for Kids

Should Little Girls Carry Purses?