So far, so great.
Those words, sung by Demi Lovato for her theme song to Sonny With a Chance, are repeated often on our TV, as my kids tend to keep it on the Disney Channel all day. The chorus to the catchy song goes, "So far so great, get with it / at least that's how I see it / having a dream's just the beginning ..."
As with everything on the network, the mood is extremely upbeat. In a nutshell, the message is this: Save the planet, be yourself (and by all means, believe in yourself), follow your dreams, treat others with respect.
These are all good things. I mean, what parent is going to argue? The channel's adorable, witty stars seem like the perfect role models for our tweens. But there's just one problem: The stars are kids themselves, and they're far from perfect. And when they mess up, thanks to the world in which we live where gossip spreads like a chemical explosion, our children hear about it at school or online.
I noticed this first when Miley Cyrus started moving away from her Disney image with more risqué songs and videos. My kids, 11 and 10, came home one day and informed me that Miley had "turned bad." They knew all about it, whether I wanted them to or not.
Today, they watch Hannah Montana with a bit of an attitude. Whenever she says something about staying true to yourself and not changing for anyone, they scoff.
Young cynics. That's what we're creating.
The latest Disney Channel newsmaker: Demi Lovato, who was admitted to a treatment facility for unspecified "emotional and physical issues." The Internet is full of suggestions that she has had a problem with cutting, though she and her publicists have not commented.
Late last week, my kids had questions about what went wrong.
"Is she emo now?" my daughter asked, slang among her friends for a dour attitude.
I wasn't ready for that question. Once again, we parents who've fully embraced the Disney Channel message have to explain why another of its stars is making not-positive headlines.
So this is what I went with: Demi Lovato is tired. No, more than that – she's completely exhausted. This doesn't make her a bad person.
And because they asked, I briefly explained what cutting is, adding that if she had done anything like that, she was probably not trying to permanently hurt herself.
"These are real people who happen to be on TV," I added. "They're not perfect."
Both of them stared out the car windows, taking it all in. Lovato is one of their favorite stars. When we went to the Camp Rock concert in September, both agreed she was one of the highlights. The girl is a singing, dancing, acting machine.
As I'd said in my review of the concert, the Disney Channel empire "stands for positivity, athleticism, crazy dance moves and the ability to sing one's heart out while running across the stage in 90-degree heat."
It was all highly entertaining, and the crowd was into it. But in hindsight, it seems like a whole lot to ask of these kids. Perhaps off camera, Sonny needs a chance to breathe.
This weekend, I asked my son if the news about Lovato's troubles made him disappointed in her.
"No," he said. "It just shows you that these people are too famous. Would you rather be famous and stressed out all the time, or able to live a normal life?" Normal life, I said.
"There you go," he replied.
That intrigued me. Yes, our kids are more cynical, worldly and information-hungry than any generation before them. But maybe that's not all bad.
In my house, the outcome of the Lovato news isn't so much "there goes another role model." It's that fame, even the good ol' Disney kind, can come with a very high price.
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