babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Chaz Bono with girlfriend, Jennifer Elia
“What would you do if Violet came to you and said she was a man stuck in a woman’s body?”
I asked my husband this question about our daughter as we watched the trailer for the upcoming reality show on OWN, Becoming Chaz.
“Hard to say.” He answered. “I’d talk to her in depth about it, obviously. Help her thoroughly research it and if that’s what she wanted to do, I’d back her all the way to the operating room.”
“Me too.” I replied.
And it’s true. That’s exactly what I would do. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be devastating, I’m not saying I wouldn’t lock myself in the bathroom and scream-cry into a towel at the thought of losing my girl. Eventually, I’d try to look at it like I’m gaining a son, because for me, nothing is more important than my child’s happiness. If it took gender reassignment surgery to make her happy then, by God, I’ll be the first person she sees when the anesthesia wears off.
I am highly anticipating Chaz Bono’s upcoming reality show, set to premiere on OWN, Oprah’s network, tomorrow night. I always liked Chastity. She seemed down-to-earth, smart and solid in spite of a very public childhood and her famous parents’ eventual divorce. Continue reading »
Whether on reality TV or in reality, do teen marriages ever really have a chance?
I don’t watch Teen Mom 2, Teen Mom, or 16 and Pregnant, and yet it doesn’t shock me to read that a star of the former has filed for divorce after just six months of marriage.
The estranged couple, Leah Messer, 18, and Corey Simms, 20, dated for a month before they found out they were expecting. They broke up before their twin daughters, now 16 months old, were born. When the girls were six months old, the couple reunited, moved into together weeks later and got engaged shortly thereafter.
For older couples more grounded in actual reality and not in the MTV spotlight, that kind of timeline would be enough to spell disaster without a pregnancy or newborn(s). But this couple was super young in the first place — mostly just kids themselves, really, when one of the biggest event in anyone’s life happened to them, and then they took on many other major steps, namely co-habitation, engagement and marriage — in rapid fire succession. Is it any surprise things didn’t work out?
What is it about being an unwed, underage mom that appeals to some girls?
There are plenty of guilty pleasures I have when it comes to TV viewing, “The Real Housewives That Are About As Real As the Color of My Hair” among them.
However, I take no pleasure — guilty or otherwise — in watching clueless, self-absorbed young girls become mothers. Because giving birth doesn’t actually make you a mom, but it still and automatically means you’re responsible for a helpless little life.
From the one and a half episodes of “Teen Mom” I watched while on a plane a few weeks ago, these girls who had given birth were still in desperate need of being reared themselves. They were clearly not equipped in the role of responsible, caring guardians to little babies.
Teen parents or celebrity moms?
The grocery store where I shop has a checkout line that has been deemed “family friendly.” What this means, of course, is that there are no magazines or candies displayed next to the register. That’s a nice idea, but ultimately kind of worthless. Because no matter what line you stand on, the stuff you are trying to avoid is never more than a few feet away.
And what I am trying to avoid is the magazines. Saying no to candy is easy. But I resent having to explain to my fourth grader what a Snooki is and why she’s famous. Ditto for Brad allegedly cheating on Angelina and Paris Hilton’s supposed drug bust. My daughter doesn’t even know who these people are, but thanks to these prominently displayed tabloids, she thinks she knows what they did to get famous. Continue reading »
Just when we thought the Palin family circus couldn’t get more tawdry, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson have announced their intentions to get married on live TV.
They’re also shopping “several” reality show concepts around Hollywood. Their plan: do a reality show about “parenting issues”. You think these two might know something about that?
Now, in their defense, these kids have barely dipped their toes into the waters of adulthood. They can’t be expected to exercise solid judgment, let alone tact, when it comes to knowing what they should or should not do on national television.
But where are their parents? Oh, right. Making a spectacle of themselves on TV.
Little girls dolled up with fake eyelashes, caked on makeup, fake teeth, spray-on tans and synthetic hair extensions may be inappropriate, but is it child abuse?
Some critics say TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras” is exploitative and that the contestants’ parents are verging on abusive.
Personally, I can’t bear to watch the reality show, which just launched its third season, because I find the whole kiddie beauty pageant thing disturbing. I wouldn’t want my young daughters to be judged on their appearances and to be sexualized at such an early age. But, then again, I can’t stand bikinis on babies and hesitated before letting my girls playing with makeup, so I’m probably not the demographic for the show.
Based on the ratings, clearly, someone is tuning in to watch — the second season of “Toddlers and Tiaras” averaged 1.3 million viewers each week. Continue reading »
Have you ever seen the movie Quiz Show? Great movie, excellent movie. If you haven’t seen it, it goes like this: back in the 50′s quiz shows programs were crazy popular. You know, because there was only one channel then and no American Idol. Also, people back then believed the things they saw on TV were real.
Anywho, turns out the most popular show, Twenty One, was feeding their contestants the answers so they could control who won and therefore pick the players with the most audience appeal. People found out and IT ROCKED THE NATION. I know, hard to imagine that kind of outrage now over a TV show. ”What do you mean the latest Bachelor and his chosen mate are broken up? They said they were in love!”
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
7