One of the best things about being a titleholder is the endless amount of little kid encounters you receive. They always make for good stories and great memories after you have to pass on your title. Here are a few of our favorite common questions along with some hilarious stories.
First things first, every single child wants to know about your crown. Why you have it, where it came from, how it stays on, if they can touch it... you get the idea. Miss Idaho's Outstanding Teen 2016 shared this story with us, "After explaining to a little girl why I was wearing a crown, her eyes widened as she had a moment of realization. She opened her mouth and exclaimed, 'See that silver tooth?! The dentist said I have a crown too! We're like, princess sisters!'"
Any and every princess reference. With a crown comes a million questions about why you have it on. The traditional questions range from, "Are you a princess?" and "Are you a Disney Princess?" all the way to "Do you live in a castle?" and "Where is your prince?". One local titleholder, Miss Meridian 2016, shared this story. "'Look Mom!! A princess,' a little girl said as she ran over. I bent down to hug her and she asks,"Do you know Cinderella?" I said yes, my sister works at Disneyland, I've actually met a couple Cinderellas in my day. She said," Well you should tell her to write me back because I wrote her a really nice letter and nice friends write letters back!" I tried not to laugh and her mom kept apologizing for her outburst.
Kids like to know who is in charge - and once you have a crown they want to know what you have authority over. Are you the queen of this town? Do you know so and so? The crown means a lot in their eyes. Not only are you a role model, but you have to be in charge of something when you have that on your head. Miss Boise 2015 shared about an experience she had with kids wondering what she was in charge of, "So are you like the president of Boise or something?' To which I responded, 'Basically.'"
They always want to know how old you are. Often when you are out in public little kids will be dying to know your age and within about a minute of the age question the guessing game starts, "Are you 12?" Followed by, "Are you 35?" Miss Idaho 2014 shared this story, "Kid one, 'How old are you Miss Idaho?' Kid two, '*gasp* *SMACK*DUDE YOU DON'T ASK OLD PEOPLE THAT!
Whenever you are out sharing your platform and you start taking answers from the audience there is a lot of great quotes. You never know what kids are going to say - sometimes their answers are perfect and insightful and sometimes they are just something you have to smile and nod your head. Miss Magic Valley 2011 shared a story from one of her assemblies, "My platform was anti-bullying. I always liked to start out with a question for the students. 'What does the word bullying mean to you?' During one assembly I asked and a kid raised his hand. After I called on him he said, "It's like... well, you know..." And he stood up and acted out bowling."
But of course, the best part after a long day of appearances and being your best is the compliments they give you. To make you feel like the queen of the world. Meeting kids is one of the best part of the job because they are always ready with compliments on what you are wearing, they tell you that you look like their favorite celebrity, they say you are nice and cool, and they ask for hugs. They are the reason most of us compete. Because if we can make a difference in at least one of their lives, then we did our job.