Baby Baby

Musings from Dennis #47: Among the fun Sentosa events I had the pleasure of leading in the organization of or supporting my team mates in the late 80’s/early 90’s were the relentless series of pageants and contests on the island. We had the usual beauty pageants and bodybuilding championships at the beach but also ventured into more interesting twists like the Sentosa Mother of the Year pageant to commemorate Mother’s Day. The most memorable one to me was the Baby Show. These were very popular in those days. We partnered a US-based personal care baby brand for their sponsorship and we had competitive categories from infants 3 months+ until 24 months (toddlers actually). The contests involved parents (sometimes they bring along the grandparents, aunts and uncles etc for support) bringing in their child for review by a medical doctor to judge with a set of parameters and then at the end of the day, winners were declared. At times to the dismay of the parents their baby had a bad day and that was the end of it. I had the chance once to enter a judging room where a doctor was meeting up with one of the contestants and the parents. “Oh doctor my baby can say big words like… oh he can walk very well.. oh he can smile and laugh when directed…come on boy, say this to the doctor come on girl…” wow was this a baby show or a pet show I remembered asking myself! I am glad this type of contest is now a relic of the past as all babies are winners in their own right, aren’t they? And having my own twin babies 7 years later proved me right as well.