Beauty Pageant Fathers: A Growing Trend

There's a surprising new trend on the child pageant circuit...pageant dads! INSIDE EDITION reports on fathers who are front and center at their kids' beauty pageants.

David Perez is putting the finishing touches on his daughter's outfit as she gets ready for a beauty pageant.

He's got a pretty good idea of what 4-year-old Eva should look like. While his wife was at work, Perez sewed the clothes their daughter would be wearing at the pageant!

Perez is part of a growing trend of fathers who are front and center at child beauty pageants, a world where dads are way outnumbered by moms.

"We really do spend a lot of time preparing for this, getting the dresses just right and the hair just right," pageant dad James Tammaro tells INSIDE EDITION.

"Once they do that first or second pageant, they're hooked for life!" says Universal Royalty National Pageant owner Annette Hill.

Retired oilman Ray Whittley gives his daughter, Lola, hints from the sidelines.

Other fathers are even more animated as they coach their daughters.

Not surprisingly, Perez, the father who makes his daughter's dresses, is also the family's head pageant coach.

Wealthy businessman Steve Miller actually flew to the event in his $7 million private jet.

His 14-month-old son Steven Jr. was in the boys' competition at the pageant.

The Miller family had an armful of prizes as they headed home on their jet.

And Eva Perez won a crown and a huge trophy as a reward for all their hard work.

"She does the presentation but I do all the sweat and all the cuts on my fingers," says a laughing Perez.