Hakuna Laguna?
OK, welcome to my latest maternal freak-out. It's about the show Laguna Beach on MTV. My 13-year old daughter is obsessed with this show...in a big way. I watched a couple of episodes because I believe that as a mom, it's my duty to know exactly what my kid is watching and perhaps it will help me understand what the hell she's talking about, at least some of the time. I also thought it might help me to know why a Dooney & Bourke handbag is something that I should want.
Here's my take on the show: It's sort of a non-reality show. It follows a group of late high school/early college kids around Laguna Beach, CA. It goes to their parties, their hangouts, and, most importantly, their closets. These kids are beautiful...drop-dead gorgeous...and rich. The least beautiful girl probably wears a size 12. All of these kids wear designer everything. Head-to-toe. On a slow night, they go bowling...arriving in a limo. To say this is unrealistic would be an understatement.
This is the problem I have. I'm developing this desperate fear that my daughter will think that this is how life should be - beauty and money. I want to scream at her to turn it off and haul her down to the social security office so that she can meet real people. Really real people dealing with real issues.
On the other hand, this is just an updated version of me watching the Brady Bunch or The Partridge Family and thinking that Florence Henderson or Shirley Jones were dispensing real advice. I spent my late teens and early adult years taking the typical lumps of growing up and finding out that sitcoms are not an accurate snapshot of life. As a result, I'm just fine. Slightly cynical, but generally OK.
So I guess I'm telling myself to just relax and not anticipate a problem until there is one. No worries, right? On the other hand, I wonder why my daughter's suddenly obsessed with Sephora lately? Hmmm....maybe I'll start watching my Partridge Family Season 1 DVD and perhaps we can watch it together. Yeah, dream on.........
posted by Karen @ 9:20 AM
3 Comments:
Do you know what show I think is far far worse that Laguna Beach. Have you seen "My Super Sweet Sixteen"? OMG...and I thought Veruca Salt was a spoiled rotten brat..."Daddy, I want it now!" This is a 30 minute show on MTV about a young lady's sweet sixteen party. Hmmm, when I turned 16, my family surprised me with a family party and invited some of my friends. Simple "surprise" and have some cake. These kids are over-indulged brats. They make these grand entrances with belly dancers or arabian knights. Daddy surprises them with big name pop stars. The party is for hundreds of kids and the most important thing for these girls is that their party is "THE" party of the year and that it will be talked about "forevah". These parents don't bat an eye at spending 30, 40, 80, 100 grand for a birthday party for dear sweet Pookie or Swoosie or whatever the new name is. I watched this the other day and was filled with distaste for these parents that do for their kids whatever the kids want. I know that parents what to give their kids the things that will make them happy, but geez, are there no limits? But most importantly, I felt pity for the kids. While they may grow up with money and while they may have money as an adult, I don't think they'll ever have a true view of the real world. I saw a girl get a pedi with real diamonds covering her big toe.....$10 per stone and 80 stones per toe. "Someone will do the math" she says, "Daddy is paying for it".
Sadly, the majority of the population will watch this and shake their heads in wonder. Or maybe they'll be like me and watch how these girls act today at sixteen and realize that it's just going to get worse as they get older...how frightening is that? But, more importantly, I wonder what those girls think when they watch the show with their party as the focus for the week. I really pray that they look at it and say "Gee, that's not who I really am" and not "boy was that an awesome party and how hot was I?"
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I have a 13 year old too. She has no interest in Laguna Beach. She believes the show is fake since the adults are missing in action. She does like Sweet Sixteen. We have had a few conversations regarding the behavior on the show. I told her poor parenting can be found in any income bracket. I am glad she understands this and that buying popularity and/or friends is not a good idea. True friendship is never bought.
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