User post: Chris Brown is NOT a Role Model

So all over the middle school my son attends is the whole Chris Brown beat down on Rihanna. Allegedly, Brown beat the holy crap out of his girlfriend, choked her until she nearly passed out, threatened her and then abandoned her when she pretended to call an assistant.

I cannot tell you what a pig that man is. Words cannot express what I think of Chris Brown. Or maybe they can.

Anyway, today I learned that Brown is up for a Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award. And apparently, Nick, as the cable channel is known, hasn't rescinded the award. In fact, when asked, a Nick spokesperson said, Brown "was nominated by kids several months ago, and the kids who vote will ultimately decide who wins in the category." Parents are, understandably, up in arms over this. They do not want a man who beat the heck out of a woman he supposedly "loves" to receive an award from children. They don't feel he is a good role model for the children.

And I agree, as a role model this guy sucks. I do not want my son to grow up believing that beating the heck out of your girlfriend is acceptable. However, I also believe that as parents, we can't depend on ANY celebrity to be a role model for our children. We don't know those people. We have no idea what their morals are, what their upbringing was, we don't know anything about them. And let's be realistic. They are celebrities. They are rich. They are surrounded by people who give/get them anything they want. And usually they are young. Frequently, they are foolish. Or worse.

Now that doesn't mean I excuse Brown. And it doesn't make me like him. And it doesn't make me think that he should get the award. Although truly I'd like to see the guy get the award and then have the presenter say "and as a special surprise we have fifty women waiting to get revenge on you for your beat down, Mr. Brown."

What I do believe is that a parent can use the whole celebrity thing as learning lessons-mostly because we can't change what a celebrity does. So the only thing we parents can do, is try to make lemonade out of the lemons. When Jamie Lynn Spears got pregnant, it was a perfect time to sit your kid down and explain that a condom wasn't just a banana's best pal. When Michael Phelps was shown on the internet smoking a bong, it was an opportunity to talk about drugs. And when Chris Brown allegedly beat Rihanna, it was an unfortunate opportunity to discuss domestic violence.

So here is my discussion. I'll keep it short. Suffice to say the discussion with my son was much, much longer.

Rihanna does not know that a man who hits is not a man at all. He is a predator. She is prey. And when he keeps hitting her-and he will-one of two things are going to happen: a) if she is lucky, she'll make it out alive; or b) she won't be lucky.