Jamie Lynn Spears Is Not A Good Role Model For Teens and Tweens
I just read that Zoey 101, which stars Jamie Lynn Spears, will be canceled. Excuse me while I applaud!
Why? Because my 16 year old and I were having the "sex talk" recently and within days it was announced that Jamie Lynn Spears was pregnant at 16.
His response: She's pregnant so it must be okay to have sex at that age.
He really, really believed this was a sign of proof that sex is a good idea for teenagers.
I am not a prude but it really has been troubling me that a young girl who is a role model to tweens and teens is now modeling sex, pregnancy, and the idea of making all that work at 16. It is clearly having an impact on other kids her age.
I understand it happens. Nice kids can become pregnant. It may make you a very strong person, ultimately, but for the average kid it limits your choices for many years to come. I just don't want the fact that someone with such celebrity is pregnant and public about it to enforce the idea, "Hey, watch me, you can do it too kids!"
What any average kid cannot possibly understand is that Jamie Lynn clearly has:
1) Grown up beyond her time. She is not so average based on her life and she might be more mature that the average kid her age based on life experience.
2) And that she has the financial resources to possibly pull this off without it completely ruining her life. Even if her crazy sister doesn't pay for everything, the family has a few bucks stashed away based on earning from both girls.
But wait ... we cannot applaud yet. We will be stuck with this not-great role modeling for at least another season. Nickelodeon says they have the fourth season in the can and will run it beginning in February.
Nickelodeon hit ratings pay dirt when Britney's younger sister announced that she is pregnant. Ratings soared and one would imagine they intend to take advantage.
I truly hope we do not see a baby boom amongst Nickelodeon age fans. Oh dear, what happen to the innocent days of green slime?
In Zoey 101 Jamie Lynn plays a young girl in a formerly all-boys boarding school. In the first season it was pretty clear she was only there because she looked like her famous sister. But she got better in role at time went on. She's a leader and peacemaker, a good friend and a clever teenager. It was all good, despite her troubled sister, but then the pregnancy.
Jamie Lynn plays a kid who is in a high school or junior high setting ... so who do you think is watching it? These kids can read too and they watch tabloid shows ... they are abuzz about her pregnancy.
Jamie Lynn hasn't even had a proper education. Word has it that she recently decided to pursue her GED because even though she enrolled in high school she's been unable to attend because of the Zoey schedule.
My prayer for her is that her relationship work out and that she can build a life that truly supports and empowers the choices she's made. And that she can continue to work over time to help support her baby.
As a mom, I feel bad for her. I know what it is like to get pregnant so young from first hand experience with relatives and I know how much it can alter the course of your life.
I am sure she is scared. And who knows what kind of sibling rivalry or even desire to take the media focus off her sister subconciously drove her to create her own media event in this way. But I cannot support the idea of a girl who is now a role model to kids modeling teen pregnancy.
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