"Dear Mum friend, stop asking me to vote for your cute baby."

I really don’t want to decide if they’re cute or not.

It’s that time of year again. The time of year mums love and all their Facebook friends hate.

Unless you’re living under a social media rock you will know that it is Bonds Baby Comp time again.

For those people unaware what it is, Bonds Baby Search is essentially the internet version of Next Top Model for babies.

Any man (or woman) and their dog (well baby actually) can enter.

Take a photo of your a-dork-ably cute child and then HARASS your social media followers to vote for them.

Now, I have a few things to say on this competition.

Firstly, I have no problem whatsoever with child modelling. I truly don't. I read as many Target and Myer catalogues as the next person and someone's kid has to model the clothes. If you want that to be your kid, then that's great. Sign them up to a modelling agency and away you go. Good for you.

Secondly, I dislike like the popularity contest aspect. There are actually different ways to win this competition. The overall winner is chosen by the promoter but there is also a 'People's choice' winner for each category. This child needs to have the "highest number of confirmed votes submitted online".

Yes it is, by all definitions, a popularity contest. Or more, how successful mum is at bugging her friends to vote.

Now, okay, some would argue all babies are cute in their own way but I'm here to tell you not all babies are cute in a model way. I'll be the first to admit I was blinded by love. I thought my sons were the best looking babies ever but now that they are well past that age and I look back at photos I can happily admit they were not.

Did I love them more than I ever knew I could? Yes. Were they the the cutest babies that ever lived? No.

Finally, stop making me sign up to crap so your child has a 1 in 6 gazillion chance of winning a free jumpsuit. In the terms and conditions you will find that for votes to be counted you have to sign into the Bonds website.

If you want Bonds baby clothes that badly just go buy them.

All of that aside, the one thing I hate the most about the Bonds Baby Search is that it is pitting parents against each other. My child against yours, literally.

I hate that. Parenting isn't a competition. Why do we continue to make it one?

Have you entered your child in the Bonds Baby Search? How do you feel about it?

Want more? Try these:

“Hideous”? “Ugly”? How can any parent call a baby names?

5 reasons why I will never let my kids be child models.