Sheridan first pageant competitions.

Day two of my "new" blog. Wow, where to begin. Sheridan, my now 10-1/2 year old daughter started pageants when she was 7 years old. Her first pageant was running in the 6-8 year old division in Mundelein, IL. In Lake County, IL community pageants are a big thing. Most communities in Lake county have a gown pageant. They all used to lead into the Lake County Fair pageant which then leads to the Illinois state fair pageant. However a few years ago they changed the town pageants so that now all the local town queens compete in a Lake County Pageant in Waukegan, IL in November. Only the local queens can compete. In the Lake County fair pageants anyone can sign up and compete.

At Lake County Fair the age ranges are 6-8 little; 11-13 Junior; 16-21 Miss. Mundelein follows those age ranges. In other towns they follow the age ranges of the Lake County pageant and they are as follows; 6-9 little; 10-15 (I think) Junior; 16-21 Miss.

Because we are in Mundelein, Sheridan competed at age 7 and did not place, in fact she was horrible and it really stressed me out. She was fidgeting, holding her dress and she was talking with a girl on stage who kept talking to her. She didnt want to be rude and tell her to be quiet but that is exactly what she should have done. She learned a lot from age 7 to 8, after we watched the video the week before the pageant when she was 8. That year she was amazing and made 2nd runner up - I was so proud and happy for her. I have to say that you are not judged by the when you are off stage and I wish these girls were because some are very genuine, nice kids and others when they are off stage are beasts and should not be holding a crown.

When the girl giving up her crown was wishing all the girls good luck, one girl in particular said "I dont need luck because I am going to win". Needless to say she did, but I thought that was the worst comment, and wished a judge had seen that. It was so inappropriate. Things like that are so upsetting in the pageant world and what gives the pageant systems a bad reputation. All girls are not like that, in fact most aren't but that is what we often see and it gives the public a bad taste of what pageantry is about.

What I really like about the Mundelein pageant system is that all the girls, the queen and the runners up are used in the parade and in various volunteer programming. They all win awards. Sheridan as first runner up won a $75 check from the city as well as many gift cards and little gifts. These were added bonuses and a great surprise. In other communities, like Vernon Hills they do not use the runners up nor do they win prizes. Mundelein happens to do an excellent job.

Because Sheridan now had to take a two year break from Mundelein, I looked into other pageant systems for her to compete in so she can stay fresh and remember what she needs to do. We then found NISP, Northern IL Scholarship Program - a Pageant with a purpose. I will explain about it on a separate blog.