So, it's a little weird when a "Teen Mom" says she's "here for boobs," but you're entering a whole new galaxy of bizarro when you're outfitting a toddler with (thankfully removable) breasts.
But what that means is that "Toddlers & Tiaras" has again raised (or lowered?) the bar when it comes to things you didn't necessarily want to know about on reality television. In this exclusive clip provided by TLC to TODAY.com, mom Lindsay Jackson packs, stacks and re-arranges her daughter Maddy's faux-breasts, all so she can do a little Dolly Parton routine on stage.
"Do you like the boobies in your outfit?" Maddy's stylist Michael Booth asked. "You'd be just as cute without them, wouldn't you?"
"No!" insisted Maddy.
Well, they are heirloom objects: Lindsay wore them when she was appearing as Parton in pageants. So there goes little Maddy in her platinum wig and fuchsia gown ... with the equivalent of a C-cup (if she had, say, been old enough to have brushed by puberty).
Toddler breasts were not in evidence when the Jackson clan of Lindsay, Maddy and grandma Barbara dropped by for a chat with TODAY's Savannah Guthrie to discuss children's beauty pageants. While Maddy went into her full routine (in a cowgirl outfit), Guthrie asked her guardians what children get out of putting the little girl in pageants. "They win money," said grandma Barbara. "Scholarship money."
Lindsay defended putting her child in pageants by noting what other parents have said before: It's what the kids want, it's no different from any other passions they may have, like playing soccer or cheerleading, and they'd stop when Maddy wanted to.
"To some people, it's over the top, to us it's just what happens," said Lindsay. "It's just normal."
Barbara noted that when Lindsay was doing pageants, things were different.
"When Lindsay did it, we didn't do all big hair, we just did natural hair," said Barbara. "There are natural competitions now, but they also have the glitz."
Still, in the TLC clip there's nothing natural going on -- something Maddy seems to sense when another contestant gives her falsies a poke. "I don't think Maddy knew how to explain what was going on," said Lindsay.
She's not alone.
The "Toddlers & Tiaras" episode airs Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET.
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