The other day I was talking to my sister, and I could hear my niece in the background chatting it up with some friends about a school project they were doing. They were gathering photos of different people who they felt were role models to kids their age. The girls were giggling and talking about different celebrities (most I had never heard of) as well as their teachers and a few other people. My niece was very insistent that one of the role models be her mother because that’s who she looked up to the most. The girls decided to take a vote on who could be on the collage and who couldn’t. Ultimately, my sister was voted out. But Hannah Montana was in.

Later on that night, I spoke to my niece about the project, and her overall feelings about the selections they had made. She quickly made it clear to me that she did not agree with most of the choices the other girls had made, but it was a group project so she went along. She felt she could better express herself in the individual assignment where she had to write about her role models, heroes and other people who inspired her to do better. She made it very clear to me that “an actor is an actor” and not someone she admires.

Well, shit. If an 8 year old can figure that out, how come so many parents can’t? [click to continue...]