The mom, Kerry Campbell, who is an aesthetician, says the injections are a necessary measure to keep up in the highly competitive beauty pageants that her daughter, Britney, competes in. According to Campbell, a lot of other moms are also getting Botox for their young daughters.
As for Britney, she says in the segment that the injections hurt but that she gets used to it. And after the treatments? Britney says, "It looks way better. Like beautiful, pretty -- all those nice words." She and her mother claim that the injections get rid of the "wrinkles" on Britney's face. (I'm not sure that it's even possible for an 8-year-old child to have wrinkles, but that's another matter.) Britney has also had her legs waxed, though she clearly says in the video that it was not something she wants to do again.
While it may be easy to simply lambaste this mother for what she's doing, it's worth noting that if she's right and scores of other pageant mothers out there are subjecting their daughters to Botox injections (and goodness knows what else), the problem is much more than one mom taking beauty treatments for a child to a whole new level. (Incidentally, just the idea of giving a child beauty treatments seems completely off, somehow. Aren't children naturally beautiful? And when did what a child looks like begin to take on this level of importance when really, what they should be doing is going outside and getting good and dirty while they play?)
Maybe stories like this are a reminder that we need to reevaluate our values. It's clear that our society puts a tremendous amount of emphasis on looks. But when it goes this far, it's time that we all step back and say wait, no, self-esteem is not about looks. It's not about wrinkles or treatments or pageants. It's something that is inside, and it's something that should be nurtured and protected, much like childhood.
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