Jamie Lynn spurs a father-daughter talk
--Gary Tuchman, CNN CorrespondentI am among the billions of people on planet Earth who have more pressing concerns than the pregnancy of 16 year-old Jamie Lynn Spears. But like many other parents I suspect, the topic of this teen star dominated my morning, as my 10 year old daughter, and I had THE discussion.
" Have you heard about Britney's sister?" , I asked Samantha who enjoys they 16-year old's TV show.
"Yes Daddy", she said.
So I asked her what her feelings were about it.
Samantha told me she thought Jamie Lynn will have to be off her show for nine months.
I explained to my little girl it's a bit more complex than that, that when an adult gets pregnant, she often works very close to her delivery date, and then may take a few months off, and come back to her job.
But Jamie Lynn, I told her, is a different situation. Nickleodeon, I explained, has to decide if she will even be able to keep her job, because I assured Samantha the cable network never had plans to have episodes with Jamie Lynn informing the world's adoring child viewers that she is expecting a baby.
I also told my daughter that in my humble fatherly opinion, the Spears sisters are demonstrating to their adoring public that they are "role model" challenged, and although they are sometimes entertaining, it would not be great to be inspired by Jamie Lynn's or Birtney's behavior.
My daughter seemed to accept my commentary, and agreed to keep me informed about the discussion around the 5th grade "water cooler." I'm sure we will talk more about this, particularly after Samantha sees or hears about mother-to-be Jamie Lynn on the cover of OK magazine, a cover story, that surprise, I'm not particularly OK with.
Call me old fashioned, but beating the publicity drum about this doesn't strike me as particularly tasteful.
