Are You A Belieber?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

I just looked up Selena Gomez.

Her head is awfully, well, round.

She's apparently 18, but will be mistaken for a 14 year old for several years to come.

[Ziero]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

How many teenie bopper stars, out of the thousands there have been, can you name that have had a successful career in their adult lives?

The biggest "success stories" involving kid stars off the top of my head are Hanson, Christina Aguilera(despite appearances, she's actually not that whorish) and Shia Lebeuof. But one of the biggest reasons they all succeeded and came out of child stardom "Ok" was because they were driving themselves, and not letting terrible parents or business execs make all their decisions for them.

I mean, the Hanson kids, who I absolutely loathed when I was younger more or less did things their own way. They really were that wholesome, that cheerful and that 'pure'. Nowadays they're still pretty much the same way, and they're still actually making music, because they enjoy making music. They seem like a group of guys (because they're mainly adults now) who really deserved their success and fame. Christina Aguilera as well, her initial debut crap was all studio pushed bubblegum brittany wannabe music. But after that she literally took control for herself, did things her own way and made her music because she wanted to, not because it would make the most money. As such you never hear of her in the tabloids having mental breakdowns or drug addictions or anything like that(she's actually a mom in a stable marriage and just released a new album this year, who knew?). Shia Lebeouf as well, started as a kid actor, but being the foul mouthed bluntly honest, kinda douchy sounding guy he is, he managed to do things he chose to do because he chose to do them. He started comedy routines at 10 not because anyone was pushing him on (if anything he was doing it cause his parents were too stoned to care) but because he felt he could make the most money that way. Over time he moved to acting, started enjoying it for the sake of actually just acting and now he's in big summer blockbusters and crappy low-budget films just because.

Having said all that, I don't actually disagree that crappy parents and business execs pushing their kids into the limelight can easily break a child. But when the kid is driven on their own to succeed, chances are they're going to be coming out on top. If Beiber is one of those types then more power to him, but if he is one of those poor kids being egged on and thrown to the lions by his parents, I feel sorry for the poor sap.

She's apparently 18, but will be mistaken for a 14 year old for several years to come.

Why do you think she's popular?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

Having said all that, I don't actually disagree that crappy parents and business execs pushing their kids into the limelight can easily break a child. But when the kid is driven on their own to succeed, chances are they're going to be coming out on top. If Beiber is one of those types then more power to him, but if he is one of those poor kids being egged on and thrown to the lions by his parents, I feel sorry for the poor sap.

Kids aren't born with "drive", they learn this from their environment. They see it in behaviors of others and parents push their children. You can brainwash your kid into doing things they may not have considered doing before. You can give them the drive to want to do these things. Of course, your kid might decide after a couple years that soccer is something you wanted him to do and he doesn't want to anymore but I don't know too many kids that would turn down being rich and famous, not having to attend school and all the other perks that come with it. Yes he's probably tutored but thats a far cry from drudging yourself out of bed early in the morning and dragging yourself to school and dealing with teachers and other kids. He's driven around in limo's and treated like a king, what kid is going to change their mind and not want that? His parents are driven and he's just along for the ride.

[Ufgt]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

I love Selena Gomez.

[Ziero]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

Kids aren't born with "drive", they learn this from their environment. They see it in behaviors of others and parents push their children. You can brainwash your kid into doing things they may not have considered doing before. You can give them the drive to want to do these things. Of course, your kid might decide after a couple years that soccer is something you wanted him to do and he doesn't want to anymore but I don't know too many kids that would turn down being rich and famous, not having to attend school and all the other perks that come with it. Yes he's probably tutored but thats a far cry from drudging yourself out of bed early in the morning and dragging yourself to school and dealing with teachers and other kids. He's driven around in limo's and treated like a king, what kid is going to change their mind and not want that? His parents are driven and he's just along for the ride.

...eh, I'll have to disagree with this to be honest. Some kids do actually enjoy pushing themselves for their own reasons and do things even their parents never realized, or encouraged them, to do. I know I'm the exact opposite of this situation, where my parents would push me towards something but if it wasn't something I was personally interested in, it wouldn't even register with me. It may be the exception to the rule, but sometimes the child really is the one pushing themselves to succeed with or without their parent's guidance. They may be the exceptions to the rule, but then again that's why kids who can motivate themselves to succeed are in fact exceptional.

I can't say I know what this kid's story is, but if it's all his parents and his agents and his management pushing him, then I feel sorry for him. But if he's pushing himself because he enjoys it all, then more power to him as long as he can stay up on things and not fall into the gutter like so many before him.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

They may be the exceptions to the rule, but then again that's why kids who can motivate themselves to succeed are in fact exceptional.

I've worked with kids (and I'm talking 15 and under) for many years now. I will say it again, kids are not born with a drive. To be driven is something they learn from their enviroment and, since the parents are one of the biggest influences in that enviroment, its safe to say the parents are the reason for it. I had one young man that was so driven to play soccer, so much so, that he didn't tell his mother how much pain he was in. He had broken a couple bones in his wrist but played on for a couple weeks. Of course, it eventually came out and he was taken care of. His reason for doing this was that his mother and father wanted him to play soccer. His dad loved it very much but died when the boy was quite young. He didn't remember much about his father but he did remember his mother telling him over and over how much dad loved soccer and looked forward to seeing him play. She would also go on and on telling him the stories of his fathers youth spent playing soccer. Because of the mothers drive to instill the love of soccer into this young man, he became obsessed with it. He played on injured because he didn't want to disappoint his father or his mother. In the end though, the boy came to realize that it was his choice soccer or not. Eventually he decided it was not his passion and got into softball. Last I heard, he was playing on his university's softball team.

I even see it in my son. All the while he was young I would talk about how he needed to go to college because factory jobs like his fathers were being phased out. (His dad took him to work a few times and the kid was all gung ho to work where daddy did.) I talked about how his father could have been more successful if he had only went on to school after the service. I told him over and over how I wanted him to be more successful than his father. Now I hear that from him on occasion, "Just got a $1.50 an hour raise Mom! If I worked full time I'd make about the same as dad did at his job. After I get this additional degree, I'll be making more for sure!" He's very proud of that and I am too but I can see where I instilled in him my beliefs and thats what drives him at times.

Giving your children a focus and drive to succeed in that is a wonderful thing but there is a fine line with how far you take it. Kids need to lead the life of a child and not be forced into the adult world prematurely. There is nothing wrong with working young but babysitting or delivering papers is the appropriate way to make money. There are plenty of horror stories of child stars that are adults now out there, so its not like this is something new. We'll have to agree to disagree. I say they could have waited and let him be a kid until he was 16 at least before thrusting him into a world of drugs, alcohol, and excess.

[Picture_Unrelated]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

Justin Bieber is way too over-exposed ,

I don't even get why everyone made such a big deal about the kid

[Ketaru]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

/ma "Raise" "Are You a Belieber?" much?

Well...I won't gripe about it. Because now I have the opportunity to say I recently saw that kid, Greyson Chance, singing on TV. And he's pretty good. And his voice is already deeper than Justin Bieber's.

[Raydeus]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

Hello, I'm Raydeus.

I would like to present to you (once again) the following icon for the V6 light theme.

For your consideration:

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

Nobody hates on Justice Beaver.

[Icemage]

Re: Are You A Belieber?

For a change I think I'll let the evil thread necromancy stand for sheer amusement value.


Icemage