Why Do People Put There 3 Year Old Children In Beauty Pageants?

I think sometimes they live through their children. They wrap themselves around the pageants and all the the glitter and glamour. They are like a moth to a flame.

My youngest daughter loves the pageant life.  I mean she loves it!  I have to hold her back before she goes on stage.  She wants to go on first and doesn't care who's in front of her.  But she can dress up for a day and then go right back and be a kid again.  She doesn't care if she wins or loses.  She just loves the attention and the dresses.  It's her way of being a Princess for the day.  It's not practice practice practice like the shows talk about.  We practice maybe twice a week for 15-20 mins.
My oldest daughter didn't like it so she's taking horse back riding lessons instead.  We started out at a local pageant and have been moving up ever since.  So the pageant life isn't for all children.  It takes a certain child to love it.  And she'll stay doing pageants until she says no more.  I always ask her before entering her into one.  So she's not forced to do any of it.  It's her choice.  It's her way of playing a sport: Just like baseball; you compete against other people.

I think it is a ego issue with most parents

Maybe they want famous children?  I don't approve but, not my