Role Models

[ryan]

I'm basically a second parent to my niece. It worries me sometimes when she talks about these celebrities as if they are people she should emulate. I know that it's probably natural for young teenagers to go through this phase. Her mother feels like it's no big deal and just part of being a teenager. I hope she's right.

 

[wilson]

I am pretty sure all kids have done this at some point in time, who were your role models when you were younger? I can think back and still see some that were not the best. I think it happens with every era.

 

[Victor]

It's hard not to worry but I agree that it's normal. Teenagers are not known for the best judgement so it's not surprising they sometimes look up to people that they shouldn't.

 

[Michael]

My wife goes absolutely nuts about this. Our daughter loved Hannah Montana and then Miley Cyrus. Our daughter couldn't make the transition very well when Miley turned out-of-bounds, so she went to Taylor Swift. We're hoping Taylor won't go the way Miley did. Incidentally, we've been to several Swift concerts and not a single Cyrus one.

 

[Bobby]

I guess we all had our favorite celebrities when we were growing up. For me it was sports, especially football players. My wife had posters of actors on her wall. I think that it's a pretty normal thing to go through as kids shift their focus from their family to outside influences.

 

[Lorenzo]

I'm basically a second parent to my niece. It worries me sometimes when she talks about these celebrities as if they are people she should emulate. I know that it's probably natural for young teenagers to go through this phase. Her mother feels like it's no big deal and just part of being a teenager. I hope she's right.

Everyone's right, this is just a phase that any teenager goes through. I wouldn't be alarmed if I don't see obvious signs of negative influence on my child (from trying to emulate a celebrity's character, style, among others). We were teenagers once, we know for a fact that our teen would get over the "fanatic" stage What's important is we, as parents, should be constantly guiding and supporting our teen at this point in his/her life.

 

[Michael]

Come to think of it, I had that Farrah Fawcett poster, the one with her in the red bathing suit, on my wall and spent many a night drooling over it.