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??
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