You know what irritates me? How these child stars, even as they grow up, are "forced" into being "role models" by parents with double standards who let the TV raise their kids but are the first to freak out when something they don't like happens involving said stars.
I personally don't think any celebrity should be a role model but hey, thats just me
Well, it's a two-way street...
When it comes to the female demographic at least, little girls really could use some positive role-models, because let's face it, when it comes to girl-power in the media, it's all about sexualizing and growing up way too fast, which is pretty much what Drtooth already covered... so for something like Hannah Montana to come along, being a wholesome, positive, and decent figure, I can see where parents would want their little girls who look up to someone like that, THEN unfortunately, Miley Cyrus is like every other girl her age and older, they cannot wait to tarnish their image because they want to be able to be free to do whatever they want, which includes questionable behavior (the pole dancing, the salvia smoking, the callously throwing around wordplay that would suggest she's a stoner, the tattoos, etc), then of course parents are going to wig out about it. I mean I actually am surprised that little girls didn't start dressing up like ladies of the evening and pole dancing on top of ice cream carts because they saw "Hannah Montana" do it... that's how bad the situation is.
Then of course, there's those who in the media who HAVE tried to remedy the situation: SST's been trying for YEARS to introduce a new female Muppet that would have as big an impact on kids as Elmo's had, and after years of bombs, we finally got Abby Cadabby, and not only that, but there have been a number of inserts aimed specifically at little girls involving Abby, Zoe, and Rosita. Then of course, Arthur apparently had an episode recently where Francine and Muffy are upset because there really aren't a lot of cool female characters in movies and on TV.
And really, I don't think shows like
Toddlers & Tiaras or
Dance Moms are helping the situation at all, I think it's only making things worse... as much negative reaction as those shows get, WHY are they still on then? And on top of that, WHY is that one little girl from T&T getting her own show about moving to NYC?