“Just go ride a bike!” was the advice my daughter would yell to Jackie Evancho, the ten year-old opera singer who was competing on America’s Got Talent last year. Ten year-olds should be enjoying riding bikes, playing dolls, and cooking in their Easy Bake Ovens and not experiencing the pressures of Hollywood, agents, critics, and parents living their dreams through their children. Parents can plead all they want that it is really what their child wants to do. Well, my children have wanted to drive a car at eight, have a boyfriend at twelve, and move away from home at fifteen, but as a parent it is my responsibility to allow them to do certain things when they possess the skills and maturity to handle each situation.
Any responsible parent watching Lindsey Lohan or Miley Cyrus self-destruct would find it a deterrent and would keep their child as far away from Hollywood as possible. But, we have parents lining up just waiting for their child’s big break. We have parents proudly injecting Botox in their eight year-old daughter’s face. There wouldn’t be padded bikini swim suits and thigh-toning Sketcher’s shape-ups if parents weren’t buying these things for their little nine year-olds. Toddlers and Tiaras exists because parents don’t realize that when their child says they want to play dress-up, it means prancing around the house in mom’s shoes, jewelry, and make-up.
Whether it is a publicity stunt or not, news has circulated about a 16 year-old aspiring singer marrying her 51 year-old actor boyfriend, and the parents couldn’t be any happier. Really? And, the mother is eager to inform us that her daughter was a virgin before this blissful event.
