Growing up my two favorite movies had a common theme. They were both from Disney and starred Hailey Mills. The Parent Trap made me wish I had a twin sister! A twin sister that I was kept away from! And that our parents got divorced! And we could scheme to get them back together again! And make dad’s shrew of a girlfriend run for her life on a camping trip!! Pollyanna? Don’t you think for a minute that I didn’t long for crystals to hang in my house and a rascally little boy sidekick!
Man that would’ve been great.
In real life I have one sister who is my twin separated by 13 years and our parents still love each other. I had a house (no crystals!) and a brother but he wasn’t a sidekick. He broke my arm. That would have made a terribly boring movie.
Fast forward, and now I’m a parent of a 9-year-old girl. She is lovely and funny and sloppy and sometimes a bit arrogant. She is not perfect, but she is perfectly mine. Her media consumption is exactly like what those research firms say it is. She’s online, watching TV, talking on the phone and playing a video game all at the same time. Her network affiliations are Nick and Disney. And as the protector of her little soul, I’m at a real crossroads.
Oh it started out rather subtlety. On some of the shows, the characters would say, “Oh my God!” I was brought up to not say this; my daughter has been brought up to not say this. And really, why did the writers include it on kids programming? Does it really provide that much more? She and I discussed it, how it wasn’t what we believed was right, wouldn’t ever use it as a casual exclamation mark and moved on. Then came those cute little Vanessa Hudgens pictures all over the internet. Disney’s reaction? High School Musical 3 October 2008 starring Miss. Naked Text Pix herself. Guess how often my daughter “Googles” something… say like the name of stars in movies she likes? ABOUT 10 MILLION TIMES A DAY. Then another character from the show got a nose job. See? At this point it’s so inconsequential I should have written it in a smaller font. The final bombshell that dropped and forced my hand: The knocking up of 15-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears. On every newsstand, news show, website, blog. This story ends with Jamie Lynn keeping her show, getting another season and a Hollywood baby bump! So very in style these days.
This is what gets me – We had to talk about it. I had to talk to my daughter about 15 years old getting pregnant. Turns out she wasn’t super clued in on this yet and I was OK with that. “Really, mom? 15 years old have babies?” “Yes, honey. But they’re not very good at it.”
What can I do? I have to show her that this is not alright, that there is responsibility to be held. I know kids make mistakes and do dumb things. That’s why I would never put mine out in the public. It’s hard enough to walk into junior high when you’ve kissed the wrong boy, but imagine it on a national level? Who does that to their kids? Anyway, I digress. My only recourse is to no longer support those networks. Andie, you love TV, I love TV but we have to break up with Nick & Disney. They’ve totally skanked out.
This isn’t easy on me either Nick/Disney – I’m hurting too you know.
I mean, doesn’t it seem obvious that these companies would work harder to maintain their image? Or maybe they don’t have to. They are kids. Little kids. Little kids who really like Spongebob. Little kids who really like Spongebob and don’t understand how it all works out.
I get that technology is amazing, there is no adjective created to gush about it enough, but as a parent I sorta envy when we were all just sitting around the radio listening to music without explicit lyrics… or worshipping from afar the great Hailey Mills.
