Before we start talking amongst ourselves I’d like to remind you to get those posts in! Send me the link to the best post you’ve written this week and then check my other blog on Saturday:
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Welcome to the fourth and last installment of Talk Amongst Yourselves Week. Today we’re going to read a post from Dr. Robyn of The Powerful Parent Blog. Dr. Robyn helped me out when I was flustered about Reagan’s obsession with the Princesses and Barbie. Her blog is a great resource for learning about and dealing with childhood issues.
Child and teen development expert, Dr. Robyn Silverman, provides easy-to-follow tips to parents and educators. Her tips have been seen in Prevention and Parents Magazines and she’s also been a featured guest on the national radio show with Dr. Drew Pinsky. She’s the creator of the Powerful Words Character Toolkit which is being used in over 500 after-school programs around the world. For more information or to contact Dr. Robyn, visit her website at www.DrRobynSilverman.com or to take part in her Powerful Parenting Blog.
Dr. Robyn recently wrote about a celebrity who would do drugs in order to raise her self esteem. Knowing how much the media plays a roll in our society today, and therefor our children’s lives, is this responsible to even say? Read Dr. Robyn’s post and tell us what you think.
People say and do ridiculous things everyday without thinking “maybe children or teens could be listening and watching.” Regular people need to watch what they say and do–but celebrities really need to take heed, don’t you think? It makes you think; what makes a good role model? I mean, look what happened whenMiley Cyrus did one ridiculous thing– the world stopped for 3 days! If you take a look at the comment section after the Miley Cyrus debacle, you’ll see that children and parents were certainly affected.
lifeswhatyoumakeit, on April 30th, 2008 at 2:11 am Said: Miley doesn’t need people sticking by her and insulting her biggest fan, Katrina. What she needs is someone to tell her, “STOP IT! YOU’RE THROWING EVERYTHING AWAY!” She does not need people who say, “Who cares, it’s just a temptation.” She needs people to believe in her and want her to get through this. I believe she can get through it, and when she does, I’ll be more than happy to regain my place as her number one fan. However, Katrina, if she does anything like this again, you are welcome to take my place, because I don’t want to look up to people who let me down again and again.
“I’ll be happy and say something nice about myself for a change, I’ll have gone to Amsterdam, done acid, done some amazing theatre in London. Beautiful!
So, what do you think could happen when a popular actress talks about dropping acid in order to improve her troubled self esteem and body image? Selma Blair, star of Hellboy,with the help of filmmaker, Guillermo Del Toro, might need to know that when they speak, their fans are likely listening.
Of course…we hope not.
Selma Blair has admitted in the past that the only thing she likes about her body is her hands. Giillermo Del Toro suggested some acid would do the trick! Yes, of course it may make her well-loved hands look like enormous oven mitts, but Selma believes it’s worth a try.
“You know what Guillermo thinks? That I should go to Amsterdam and take an acid trip and it would fix my head. I think he could be right you know. You know, I’ve done some things to excess but I hate pot and I’ve never done acid or ecstasy. But if I was in the right frame of mind, in a pleasant, creative, chilled-out space, with just the right amount delivered by an Amsterdam technician, that would be incredible.”
So what does Selma Blair say about the future? It looks bright!
Could it be a joke? Does it matter?
Just for the record:
What’s acid?Full Name:Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)
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What does this have to do with self-esteem? LSD causes an inflation of the ego which, at least in Selma Blair’s eyes, may be an effective antidote for low self-esteem.
Children and teens, please cup your ears.
Yes, sometimes famous people say really stupid things. And yes, it’s LSD is illegal.
So what do you think? Are celebrities to consider themselves role models? How would our children react to hearing/reading about such things? I commented to Dr. Robyn that this was the most idiotic thing I’d heard from a celebrity in a while. Selma’s either stupid and gullible or she’s trying to sound open and willing in order to be considered edgy. I didn’t even comment on the fact that our daughters would be reading this somewhere and wondering if a little acid trip might do wonders for them as well. I don’t have a doubt that children are affected by what they see and hear. It’s up to us as parents to make sure this crap doesn’t reach them, and if it does we need to be prepared to sound off! What do you think? Talk amongst yourselves!
Not So SAHM 
http://michelleosborn.blogspot.com/2008/09/its-beginning-to-look-lot-like.html
I don’t know if it’s the best post this week, but it’s one that I want comments on. Thanks for posting!
Celebrities are role models, only because they have so many people watching and listening and have a bigger platform than any of us regular folk.
That being said, even if this was in jest, how are we to know? We weren’t there and can only take it how it sounds…like she was serious. So a young fan of hers would think if Selma can do it, why not I?
They should be held accountable for what they say or do and if they don’t like it, get out of the spotlight.
A role model for me is a person who inspires other to be his/her best, by following their example. The day a celebrity does this is the day I’ll refer to one of them as worthy of the role model title.
Yes, there are exceptions to the rule…but, interestingly enough, I can’t think of a single famous person I’d out as a role model at this very moment.
I would comment more on this, but I’ve still got that horrendous You Tube clip running through my head. (Just sent it to you.) I’m still rather incoherent at the moment.
un-stinkin-believable!! I’m gonna skip the whole role model part of this –a different pet rant has been triggered!
deep breath… when did we start thinking that taking any drug or listening/giving empty praise is the solution for low self-esteem??? What ever happened to taking ACTIONS you can justifyably be proud of? HHHMMM….drop some acid so that now you THINK you are great….spend a few hours holding AIDS babies or reading to preschoolers and let their faces show you you are. Listen to people fall all over themselves running your so-so efforts up a flag-pole OR redouble your efforts in areas where you may not get attention but you KNOW you have made a real difference!
EDGY SCHMEDGY!!
I think it boils down to one of two things:
1) They just don’t care. Your kid should be able to figure it out on their own.
2) Complete oblivion to their potential impact.
In many cases, I think the latter applies. But as has already been pointed out, famous or not, we should ALL be mindful of what we say and do, particularly in front of the young’uns. Like it or not, they take their cues from us. (And unfortunately, also from those who are covered in Point 1.)
Hello everyone-
Yes; there was something about Selma’s cavalier attitude that really got under my skin on this one.
There are many who think “who cares what these people to do?” but our children are shaped by those around them. Whether we like it or not, these folks in the spotlight set examples for our children, both good and bad. This happens to be…bad.
Perhaps it’s not the norm– perhaps many teens didn’t hear the remark or even care– but there are some young people who heard this dumb comment and perhaps thought to themselves…”well, yeah, that WOULD be cool to do acid.”
Sheesh. People should need some kind of license or pass some kind of common sense test to get in the media.
Thanks for your comments!
Dr. Robyn
thanks for stopping by my blog! I’m bookmarking yours to come back and read some more!
That is the dumbest thing I’ve heard a celebrity say in a long time. Might be ever. I do not have a daughter, and sometimes I’m thankful for that. Girls are under SOOOO much pressure. I know that’s a whole other post in and of itself. But my son is susceptible to listening to his “role models,” too, like NACAR drivers, football players, and especially basketball players. When one of any of the above does or says something stupid, we always try to talk to Kiddo and make him see why such-and-such is wrong. But what about the kids whose parents don’t do that? They are being brought up with the mindset that if you’re pretty and rich enough then you can do whatever and not pay the consequences. Or maybe you can just forego the pretty and rich. Who cares about consequences, anyway?
Okay, sorry, didn’t mean to sound off like that! All I meant to do was thank you for your great comment on my BATW post! So…thank you! : )
Sorry, that was supposed to be NASCAR. I wish they had “preview” on WordPress! : )
One of my favorite musicals is “Into the Woods” by Steven Sondheim. He makes a point in one of his last songs about children: “Careful the things you say, children will listen. Careful the things you do, children will seeeeeeeee and learnnnn.” *yeah, can’t write the lyrics without singing them* It is a moving scene by a witch who has lost her powers in exchange for beauty and her stolen child as a result of control (kept her child in a tower until the Prince came along and climbed her hair and now hates her mother for never sharing any love with her).
Children do hear, see and learn. It is up to us as adults to help them formulate what is right and wrong through talking with them, demonstrating in our own actions what is right and loving them, not controlling them which at times can be a fine line.
I do not have any children of my own. I am the “friend” who the my friend’s kids come to when they have things they might not want to ask their parents or are having problems getting honest with their parents. Most of the time I can only tell them what I would do: pray about it, write about it, pray about it some more and then go ask Mom or Dad. Sometimes I share some of my experience if I have any. Their parents trust me, the children trust me and I try my best to be honest, pure, unselfish and loving.
I don’t think celebrities are role models. When I think of a role model, I think of someone who has overcome something in order to be a better person today. Mostly, celebrities are just that and nothing more: shallow persons trying to make a living like the rest of us. On occasion there is someone who comes along who coincides with greatness and is a celebrity. Not many. I can’t think of any to tell you the truth.
I watch a lot of movies. Selma Blair is not in a single movie I would let a child see, unless perhaps she does a cartoon voice or something. If she is on stage, generally she is too grown up for a child. I consider a child less than 13. 13 and up are iffy and then you have the 18 and up, which are semi-adults. I don’t know that my child would ever see her comment regarding drugs and self-esteem. I know why the comment was made. Drugs are how drug addicts find self esteem until they become institutionalized, jailed or dead. At that point they have an opportunity to change. If they do, then they find out that if they want self esteem, they have to do esteem-able acts. But if they don’t want to change, they make statements like Selma’s. It tells me that she is surrounding her self with sick people who need help. She may even have a touch of the mental illness too. No way to know.
To be frank, only us adults would find a silly statement such as Selma’s to be outraged by, this way we have something to talk about and get so very Veclempt.
I hadn’t heard about the Miley thing. However, I don’t feel a girl her age should’ve posed that way.
I’ve had issues with celebrities from the get go. Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean that should let you do whatever it is you want to do. You now bear responsibility that comes with your status, responsbility that many overlook, as they’re too busy ‘living it up’ to notice they’re influencing others in the process.
I try very hard to instill the right values in my children so they are able to NOT think that just because this ‘star’ is cool, doesn’t mean what they do or don’t do is something worth trying themselves.
I try to live the way I want my children to live. Be the person I want them to be. How else will they learn?
As far as Selma, she is certainly someone my children will NOT be watching anytime soon. I think the more parents are aware and involved, the better off our children will be.
Thank you for stopping by my blog 🙂 I hope to see you again soon!
I believe you are correct– not all role models are celebrities– and certainly, not all celebrities are role models. The problem is, that because these people are famous and in the public eye, they are perceived as role models when they may actually be “anti role models.”
See: http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/powerful-role-models-seven-ways-to-make-a-positive-impact-on-children/
Thank you for the lively discussion. As parents and as real role models for children, we must be the ones who highlight the good and discuss the bad and ugly so that we help children take off in the right direction.
Dr. Robyn