Media Children; Products of Narcissistic Parents?

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer the Heene family was being questioned over the now infamous "balloon boy" incident. The young boy, who hads presumably floated away in the gas balloon and was later found in the attic, was asked why he had not come out from hiding when they called him. His answer would give way to the now occurring investigation: "You guys said we did it for the show."

The Heene family had previously made their television debut on Wife Swap and the parents regularly take the children, ages 6, 8 ad 10, to chase storms. (Dad is a self professed meterologist/scientist/inventor high school graduate.) But the Heene family is just one of many American families using their children to catapult their own professional careers or exploit their own children for financial gain.

And it is an interesting pattern to see how parents around the world are trying to make money off their kids. Check out Cory who was videotaped at 20 months old dancing to Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies"




SUPER CUTE!!! And guess what, he has his own official website where you can donate to his "college fund". It raises the question of how are these children or babies being protected by their parents? Who is handling the money? Why are tv shows condoning parents living vicariously through their children like the hit show Toddlers and Tiaras? (Check out some clips of these moms and daughters.) And recently the whole controversy around Jon and Kate has brought into question the welfare of the children, the money issues, labor laws, etc, etc. (The Pennsylvania Department of Labor is investigating a possible breach in child labor laws.) But aside from exploiting the kids, TLC claims they have done nothing illegal.

This all raises a lot of good questions regarding parenting, media, child labor laws, the exploitation of children, etc. etc. What are your thoughts? Questions? Knowledge? Were you exploited as a child??

ENC 1101 Blog #5

For this blog you are to visit: http://natashasenc1102.wordpress.com/ This is the class site for my 1102 classes. Click on the page "Class Blogs". Here you will find a list of all of my 1102 students hyperlinked to their blogs. Visit 2-3 blogs and read their latest entry discussing Skid Row. You do not have to know anything about Skid Row. One of the goals of this assignment is for you to practice peer review by pointing out writer errors based on what you have learned thus far, and for 1102 students to learn whether or not they are fulfilling reader expectations.

Therefore, your job is to read their entry and leave a comment about their entry. Your comments should be insightful and demonstrate critical thinking skills in addition to critiquing the manner in which the writer is discussing their topic. For example, think of what you have learned so far, is the writer taking his reader/audience into consideration, does the writer give background information, old information before new, does the writer have an interesting tone/style that keeps the reader engaged, does the writer sound fair and objective or the complete opposite.

You should comment on at least 2 bloggers pages, print your comments out and bring the printout to class. Keep in mind that some students have their privacy settings set up so that it is unavailable to the public, therefore you will not be able to acces some blogs. Also, if you come across a blog and there is no entry on Skid Row then find another student because that means that the student did not enter an entry.

Have fun.