I’m not much of a reality TV watcher. I tend to stick mostly to the comedies and dramas that I love, but I recently happened to catch an episode of Dance Moms and watched with open-mouthed amazement as girls as young as seven were encouraged to dress provocatively and shimmy around a stage doing a dance performance that could just as easily been a burlesque routine. I kept thinking all these girls were missing is a pole! I was also horrified by the way their instructor spoke to them when she felt they weren’t up to snuff. It was demeaning, belittling, and downright unkind.
My daughter was in the room at the time as was my mother and I kept looking over at my perfect, innocent and beautiful child wondering how can I protect her from what the world is becoming. My mother was outraged and -- never one to hold back an opinion -- vented that it was not even remotely necessary to speak to a child the way the dance instructor was, that no one during the course of my performing and early years as a child model and actor had ever talked to me like that. She insisted that the tough-love attitude was totally misguided and not what makes anyone succeed -- and certainly not a child. She reminded me that I was loved, encouraged, and held through the journey of my career and was never demeaned, berated, or told I was not doing my best and look how well that has worked for me.
Read more: http://www.ivillage.com/katherine-heigl-raising-her-daughter-know-her-worth/1-a-422931
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