Publication:The Gazette; Colorado Springs CO Date:Oct 22, 1995; Section:WOMAN; Page Number:11
Pageants become a family affair/ Three daughters shine in their own ways
Teila Tankersley
The road to a pageant is a fascinating one. Sometimes it's filled with first-time luck, sometimes with disappointment. Contestants come from all walks of life and every age group. Some are drawn in by their own dreams and desires. Others enter to fulfill someone else's hopes and expectations.
Having taken the pageant road as a teen-ager, I was excited but a bit reluctant when our three daughters became interested in pageants.
When they received a flier in the mail inviting them to participate, I was taken back to my experiences as a teen participating in the Colorado Ideal MissMiss Pageant.
When I did win a title and crown, I felt self-acceptance. I spent years trying to overcome the attitude of having to look to someone else for acceptance.
So the decision of whether or not to allow our daughters to participate wasn't made overnight.
My husband and I began exploring the reasons why our girls wanted to compete and what their expectations were. We had our girls list the reasons they wanted to participate.
Our oldest daughter, Darleen, has always been competitive. Darleen wanted to compete in the academic portion of the pageant. She also wanted to enter the speech competition in hopes of enhancing her public-speaking skills. Being active in sports, she already understands the meaning of competition and being her best.
Tylina, our middle daughter, had one main reason for wanting to participate. She has always had an affair with the stage.
Our 5-year-old, Tanisha, announced that she, too, wanted to compete. She was caught up in the glamour and excitement. She had seen the many pageant magazines we had accumulated and wanted to wear the beautiful gowns and make the walk across the stage. It was our youngest who actually had her hopes on a crown and banner.
Our three girls were excited. My husband and I decided that if we were going to allow them to participate, we needed to go in with our eyes wide open. We began to educate ourselves on the different types of pageants.
Our daughters, who entered the American Coed Pageant, already had the confidence to perform in front of an audience and grab the spotlight. Confidence is not learned overnight; it is accumulated over a lifetime. A pageant only draws upon that confidence.
Every contestant who accepts the challenge of competing and being her best is in her own right a winner. Any other awards or trophies are only icing on the cake.
