Emily Shire semi-defends pageant moms on "Toddlers and Tiaras":
The mothers on Toddlers and Tiaras are chastised for ignoring their children’s feelings, forcing their own desires upon them, and spending exorbitant amounts of money to do so. If the mothers on Toddlers and Tiaras expended their funds and parental pressure on SAT tutoring, squash instruction, or foreign language immersion, they likely would not be dismissed as broad caricatures that are all too easy to hate. Because in reality, the main difference between a pageant mom and a tiger mother is just a matter of accessories.
Roxie, a commenter, counters:
Neither 'pageant moms' or 'tiger moms' are saints, but calling them the same is outrageous. Teaching a child to persevere through pain and suffering to attain skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives is one thing, teaching a child to suffer to attain a standard of beauty that will slip through their fingers before they're 30 is quite another.
The Dish 