How best to comfort Olympic singer Yang Peiyi?

News broke this morning that Lin Miaoke, the cute nine-year-old whose rendition of a Chinese revolutionary song warmed the hearts of the estimated one billion watching the Olympic opening ceremony, was lip-synching to a recording of another child.

The actual singer, seven-year-old Yang Peiyi (above left), apparently has slightly overcrowded teeth and officials decided that her appearance would let China down on such a momentous occasion.

It's likely that neither child realised there was anything special, or awful about their teeth, until it was pointed out to them by the global media. There is now a mother somewhere in China having to explain this 'scandal' to her seven-year-old and minimise the potential damage to her self esteem. 

On a much smaller scale, this is the kind of drama that regularly turns up here in school plays, carol concerts and bouquet presentations. China is hardly alone in being image-conscious, and we could say that the beauty/celebrity obsessed West has some responsibility to bear here.

Girls are being made aware of their cuteness or lack of it at a younger and younger age. If yours belongs in the latter group, how do you make sure she doesn't grow up feeling second best?