Adults love to point fingers in the never ending saga of children growing up too fast. Anyone and everyone (other than you) are to blame for the downfall of today’s youth. The Disney Channel, since its conception, has been a front-runner in the battle for the tween market so it is easy to name any star affiliated with the brand and pick and pick and pick away at their sparkly manufactured exteriors until *gasp* you find something not so sparkly. Case in point Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana. Not that I am a big, or even small, fan of any of the Cyrus clan, but there is that little part of me that wants to shake all the whiney grownups who blame her for their children’s problems.
Think about your kids. Are they perfect all day, every day?? The answer is NO, 150%. Now imagine that every time they left the house, and sometime while they were still inside the protection of your home, they were being videotaped and the worst of those tapes were being flashed across the newspaper and the top story on the evening news. The public would not think of your kid as the sweet charming child that you know she is. Now imagine people actually rooting for your kid to screw up and do something that makes her "less of a role model" only so they can shake their heads and *tisk-tisk* down to them.
With the invention of You Tube and cell phones with video cameras, it is easier and easier for people to invade the privacy of whomever they choose. Just this week Perez Hilton (gag) posted a video of five extremely talented girls (who cannot be over seven years old) doing a hip-hop dance to Beyoncé with, some might say, questionable dance moves and outfits for their age.
I am willing to bet that not one of these people criticizing the video has ever danced competitively, or had a daughter or son who dances competitively. If they had, they would understand that this video, which was filmed (illegally) at one of the most famous dance competitions in the nation, was not put on the internet by any of the kids trying to attract attention. They would also know that these young girls, and their parents, are so consumed with practice and training, not only for this hip-hop routine, but most likely for five or six equally difficult routines, that all they can see is how amazing these girls are and are not thinking "wow this is super sexy I hope some pedophile on the internet doesn’t see this and think nasty about my daughter" – because why would they think it was being (illegally) taped?
It’s hip-hop dance; get over it. The girls are not dancing this way because they saw Hannah Montana giving her 45-year-old producer a lap dance, they are dancing that way because hip-hop is an increasingly popular form of mainstream competitive dance – and they are good at it.
People will say that because (insert Disney star name here) is in the spotlight she should be careful of how he/she acts because kids are watching. Well, sure you can say that, but I can’t imagine what the public would say if they saw videos of me at 16, 17, 18 years old, or how hard and exhausting it would be to constantly defend my normal teenage behavior. How boring would life be if you didn't get to screw up in your teenage years and then laugh about it later?
