Parenting 101
WHAT DO you think when you hear the names Gosselin, Suleman, and Heene? Do any of these parents really think about the well being of their children? Furthermore, does society care about the welfare of children in the media? For society to truly care about child welfare, it would require us to no longer care about the whereabouts of the aforementioned parents, and for news crews to turn off their cameras due to the apathy of viewers. However, for Americans today, it appears that we are more interested in the failing of other people’s families than taking the time to worry about what goes on in our own. It is a tragedy how certain parents capitalize off their children and become famous based off what their children have accomplished — i.e. Lynne Spears, Dina Lohan, the Duggars, and Gary Coleman’s parents. This epidemic is not limited to the Gosselins, Sulemans, and Heenes, but is repeated throughout pop culture. We are taught that there are two ways to become famous off your children: either make your child famous, or have an abundance of children. It seems as though nowadays simply having children makes you famous, for the common thread is that if these none of these celebrity parents procreated, no one would know who they are.
This idea of becoming famous though your children is not limited to the parents mentioned above. It starts with stage moms and starts with beauty pageants. When I watch Toddlers & Tiaras on TLC, I repeatedly see images of kids screaming in discomfort and their parents exclaiming how much their kids “love it!” It is extremely vexing to see a stage mom that is extremely overweight and unattractive yelling at her eight-plus year-old daughter and putting her on a diet, telling her she needs to lose weight. Some kids really do love to perform; however, most of the images I see on the show are parents who do not embody the values they impose on their children. The season finale on Oct. 21 had an 8-year-old girl stating how she felt as though she had to compete with her mom, a mom who gladly brought upon the competition. Even though this mom was overweight, this did not stop her from putting her child on a fruit-only diet for a week so that she can be “skinny and pretty.” Is it appropriate for parents to force their kids into images of beauty that they themselves are unable to obtain? Should a parent force their child to become an image of perfection that goes against their ability?
The lesson that the Gosselins taught pop culture is that having many kids can be a gold mine in the sense it can bring book deals, fame, and fortune. This then gave rise to the Duggers whow have eighteen kids, and Nadya Suleman who also had a litter of children. Both of these parents would not be famous nor have a television show had they not had an abundance of children. If these people did not have the support of the media, at least in the case of the Gosselins, that they would not be able to support their children financially. This idea is continuously supported by Kate Gosselin. For example, during an appearance on Good Morning America (after Jon nearly liquidated their entire account), she stated that one of the purposes for the show is to provide for her kids.
Other examples abound. Nadya Suleman, who selfishly and intentionally impregnated herself with eight children for speculated fame, can never really give equal amounts of love and compassion to eight children that are all in the same age group. To illustrate the expense of raising a child, according to the U.S. census press release, the median income of an American household is $50,233. Using babycenter.com’s “Cost of Raising Your Child” calculator, if a child is born in 2009, in a Virginia suburb, with the median income of a U.S. two-parent household, with no college, the total cost of raising the child is $208,692, with the “cost for the first year (excluding college)… [being] $11,594”. Imagine that number times eight — the lowest number of kids these families have. That number is enough to make Warren Buffet cry. In fact, having one kid costing you $208,692 is probably enough to convince at least one reader to reach for birth control this weekend.
The warning shot for America is the speculation that the Heenes used their child to strike a deal to obtain a reality television show contract. How insane will parent capitalization of children get? Furthermore, are these cases simply parents getting compensation to offset the cost of raising a child, or is this something more? If that is the case, maybe we should hug our parents a little tighter over break for not handing us a receipt after college graduation totaling over $200,000 with an interest rate tagged on. The saddest thing of all is the fact of when these kids are old enough to look up their family, they will see their parents in this light. Furthermore, in an age where a child is too young to consent to sexual experiences, and unable to take trips, get tattoos, or do anything in between without permission, how can a child truly decide if they want to be on television — especially if they are not old enough to understand the consequences?
Liz Ford is a Viewpoint writer for The Cavalier Daily.
