Nice parenting there!

Hey, just a quick thought about the social train wreck known as the Spears family.

First we have Britney, who seems to make one questionable or bad mistake after the next. She has quickie marriages, she has bad marriages, she pops out a couple of tax deductions, then she ditches her bad marriage, parties it up, gives us a half-assed comeback, and loses her kids in the process.

Now there's her baby sister, Jaime Lynn. You know... the GOOD Spears. The good, wholesome, sweet and innocent Spears. Some might even say that she was the anti-Britney.

Operative word here being "WAS". She's now pregnant at age 16.

Oops!

What do they have in common? They were both groomed for fame by their mother. You know, the one who was supposed to have a book coming out talking about good parenting.

Oops again!

Okay, first of all, I have an issue with ANY PARENT that intentionally grooms their child for stardom, much less try to create some kind of cult-like following based on their children. And that is what Mama Spears did with her daughters. And it was even more so with Britney! Remember the magazine and the doll collection?

It's one thing to be devoted to your child and encourage them to be the best they can be. Look at Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. But it's another thing when Mommy and/or Daddy decide to pick up the second hat of manager or agent. That's when the parent STOPS being a parent and instead becomes a pimp.

It's a harsh word to hear, I know, but that is essentially what many of these so-called parents have become! They have become PIMPS!

Look at the E! Channel series "Keeping Up With the Kardashians". You have "Mama K" managing her older daughters (including, of course, celebutant Kim) and having them get into trouble and then trying to keep the bad news away from step-dad Bruce Jenner, AKA "BRUCE". It seems like there is just one train wreck after another in that family, and most of it has to do with keeping things away from "BRUCE", who is supposed to be the parent of the family since "Mama K" is busy being the manager of Kim's celebutant career.

And they talk about learning LESSONS here? Hey, here's a really good lesson that somehow got lost in the mix: Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be CELEBUTANTS! (Apologies to Willie Nelson.)

And it's not like it is a new thing anyway. I mean, come on guys, do you REALLY think that Michael Jackson was the product of GOOD PARENTING? Seriously!

The short of it is this: children NEED parents! And they need parents to actually BE PARENTS! They don't need parents to be managers or agents or spokespeople to their budding financial empire. And it doesn't matter if that stardom is one of TV and movies, modeling, beauty pageants, music, or sports. Being a business manager and being a parent are two separate activities that simply are not good when put together.

And by the way, the same thing applies to spouses, but at least with that you're screwing up an ADULT life, not the lives of CHILDREN!

Mama Spears needs to shelve that book deal, give back whatever advance she was given for it, and actually be a MOTHER to her daughters and let someone else be the manager and/or agent and/or merchandising genius. If she wants to know why Britney isn't supposedly speaking with her and why Jamie Lynn got knocked up, all she has to do is look back at how they were brought up, and figure out WHO was supposed to be responsible for that part! And she better have some tissues ready, because it's going to be a Made-For-Lifetime Moment when she figures it out!