by Roxanne Cottell

Created on: June 01, 2008   Last Updated: June 06, 2008

Parents! Listen when I say it - LET YOUR CHILDREN BE CHILDREN!

In the news everyday we are given glimpses into the lives of broken Hollywood dreams through Britney Spears and now even Jamie-Lynn Spears, Lindsey Lohan, lessons given by one late Dana Plato of Diff'rent Strokes fame, Corey Feldman, the late River Phoenix, Micheal Jackson, and the tragedies which can happen to the likes of Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, the little girl from iCarly...any of these kids can end up a statistic.

Fame does nothing for children, most of them, and when they are turned in celebrities before they have turned into teens, they don't have the option anymore to be just children. Many people have lots to say about "Brangelina's" kids, Madonna's kids, kids of celebs everywhere, but there is one thing that these particular celebs have in common - kids who are not celebrities.

Gee...think they might know something that no one who is not in the industry doesn't?

Yeah. I'm sure of it. My biggest curiosity is not about if the kids wanted to be on television or whatever, because all kids would love a chance to be a "star", even if it were only for 15 minutes. The truth is that not too many people understand that the Hollywood machine, the pro-sports machine does not care about how cute your kids are, how smart your kids, how athletic your kids are. They care about the marketability of your little cutie pies, and that is all it cares about. As soon as your kid is no longer a cute 5 year old who says the darndest things, and as soon as your kid's gift of gab is replaced by a mohawk and an attitude, as soon as said kid can no longer lob the ball over the net or put it in the hole, your kid is no longer the "next greatest thing," and is at that point a "was."

And call me wrong all you want, but to cop out to the idea that you want what is best for your kid, saying that you want them to have all the experiences you never did only says one thing about you - and that is that you are trying hard to live the life your mom spared you from when you were a kid, and now you want to put your darling little darling to work to bring your dreams alive. Let me tell you what - I have seen what happens on a television soundstage, and it is no joke! These people actually work, hard at that, including the kids, and the producers do not care one little bit about the "little star,"' because as quickly as they "discovered" your kid, they can find another one as quickly. The same can be said about sports prodigies.

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