First Sunday Post – Parenting.

October 18, 2009 at 11:13 PM · Filed under Uncategorized and tagged: 911, boy, children, Falcon, hot air balloon, kid, Pamela Anderson, parent, Richard Heene, TV show

I always thought that I would not be a good parent because I have a Type A plus personality – quick temper, no patience (notice how many media types have this similar type of personality, with a super big ego?). 

However, I struggled along. I have dreams of becoming a Top Model or winning Survivor (TV reality show) and writing that winning screenplay. But although none of these have happened (yet!) I have managed to not live vicariously through my son. 

Well, confession: I used a mixture of threats, cajoling and bribes to get him to take an instrument at school. I wanted piano, he’s going for drums. But so far, I have not paraded him on national T.V…and there’s been no vomiting. Again, not yet! 

I’m not one of those people who think that parents should not profit off their kids. The little buggers profit off us for decades, sometimes forever! Go ahead, profit off them. Raising a kid is not easy and if that kid has a particular talent or skill that can help take that family off difficult times into the good life. I say, GO for it.

However, please parents, DO NOT USE THESE KIDS AS YOUR MEAL TICKET, even if he/she/they…is/are that meal ticket. 

I cannot stand to see parents parade their little girls on stage pushing them to do things the kids don’t want to do. Some do like it, some do have a natural bent for it and for them it’s OK. But many kids don’t, yet these parents push these kids into the limelight or on stage, because they are blinded by dollar signs. 

I used to take my son to auditions and I would overhear the coaching, the handling, and the managing – the prodding and the bullying and the cautioning: Say this. (You can tell from the parent’s tone/attitude and the child’s reaction which ones are being coerced.) Do this. Don’t do that it will ruin your hair/costume, whatever…and I’d feel sorry for those kids. 

Yes, sorry for those kids. We see what happens to child stars when they are not grounded, and even to some that are grounded. 

We forget that Einstein was not an actor or a basketball player. But he’s more famous and respected and honored than any sports star or Hollywood celebrity will ever be. 

(Please let me know if I am wrong, but:) Bill Gates was not a child star. 

Mother Theresa was not a child star. 

Jay Leno was not a child star. 

Marie Curie was not a child star. 

Do you remember the name of that cute little girl who played Bill Cosby’s youngest daughter on the Cosby show? 

Do you know who Bill Clinton is? HE was not a child star, but she (Keshia Knight Pulliam) was. Which person (not character) do you remember offhand? Would you recognize her in the street today? Would you recognize Clinton? Does she have Secret Service protection?

I’m just throwing out names at random to show that our kids DO NOT NEED TO BECOME YOUNG CELEBRITIES AND OVERACHIEVERS to leave their mark on the world. 

However, in the race for fame, celebrity, money and book deals (which is apparently ALL that counts these days) some of us, parents, seem to be seeing our kids as cash cows that we reckon we should milk every few hours! 

What set me off? The balloon story out of Colorado! 

I came home Thursday afternoon (Oct. 15, 2009) and there was this hot air balloon (home made) drifting in the sky. According to news reports, there is/was a 6-year-old inside and now he’s not, and maybe the kid fell out! 

What! A 6-year-old in a hot air balloon! What was he doing in the balloon, I’m asking my son? Why was he in the balloon in the first place? Was an adult with him? Did he fall out? What if he did fall out? 

I have visions of a broken body in a tree somewhere…

 And then…and then…we learn the kid was safe, hiding in his attic all along. 

Wow! Ok, that’s good. But…? 

Then I listen to the emergency calls and I learn the dad calls a local TV station and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) first, before calling 911. BEFORE calling 911?

 Your 6-year-old son is drifting off in a hot air balloon and 911 is your third call?

 Did he want to ensure that the government did NOT blast the balloon out of the air? Then the best thing would be to call 911, wouldn’t it?

If my son doesn’t get home from the school bus within minutes I’m calling him – where are you? And if for some reason I can’t reach him, I’m already thinking of what to tell the police to convince them that no, he didn’t run away and has never done this sort of thing before.

 So am I going to say it’s a hoax? Nope, can’t say that because for one, I’m afraid of lawsuits. This family seems to have a lot more money than I do. (Plus I make cookies; they make hot-air balloons!) They have an attic atop their garage – I don’t even have a garage! Or a parking spot!

 Police plan an announcement…I’m waiting to hear it.

In the meantime, please parents, (I think) it is better to have an emotionally secure, stable, well-adjusted kid who is not a celebrity, but doing well at school and has friends etc…than one who is getting chased by paparazzi or is paraded on live T.V. and has their embarrassing bodily malfunctions televised worldwide.

 And (in an unrelated incident) would I have let my kid sit on the floor at an awards show just to hold Pamela Anderson’s train? According to news reports, the 9-year-old girl did not have her own seat – she had to sit at Pamela’s feet all night!

Too much to say about this one…but WE are the sanctimonious finger-waggers who criticize child labor in India and other developing countries, where these kids work TO SURVIVE…AND SUPPORT ENTIRE FAMILIES.

See Why I Rave About Hypocrisy!

What do you think?

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