Hannah Montanna/High School Musical

[rosebuds]

Hey there MDC moms.

How do you feel about Hannah Montana and High School Musical for your dd's?

I am completely ignorant on both fronts except that nearly every girl in my dd's age group is very interested in these shows.

Are your dd's into them, how old are your dds?

Do you think that they are appropriate role models for our dd's?

What are the positives and negatives?

Are you or were you reluctant to enter this realm of pop culture?

My dd is 7 soon to be 8 and she knows that the other girls in her class like HSM and Hannah Montana. I have really avoided going down that road with her and have gone so far to assume that they are inappropriate at this age - more of a preteen phenomenon but after reading a couple of posts in this forum about tv shows it seems that even MDC'ers dds are watching. My dd just went shopping for a friends birthday and bought her a Hannah Montana doll and it seems like her interest is peaked and I wonder if I should let her see some of the shows to see if she likes it and doesn't feel excluded from her classmates. (Not that we follow what her classmates do as a rule - I often feel she doesn't connect because she isn't as involved in pop culture as most.

Thus my questions.

Thanks for your knowledge, I look forward to your opinions.

[gingerstar]

My older two DD's (10 this month, and nearly 7) saw HSM when it came out, then HSM2. They prefer the original, and so do I. It is very kid friendly, IMO - amazingly clean, no language, no sexuality, good "moral of the story" etc. I tend to be very cautious about what they see; we do not have TV, and everything they see has been ok'd by my DH or myself, and obviously is a DVD or (like HSM) has been taped from TV by my IL's.
My feeling is, preview it, but HSM is fine, even for young grade schoolers.

The main female character in HSM is a "brain" who wants to try other things, not get "typecast" and so she tries out for the HSM. The main guy is the capt of the basketball team, same story, and the main thing is that their friends are not comfortable with them stepping outside their "role" - hence the song, "Stick to the status quo" where for instance, a "nerd" girl says she loves to dance hip hop, and a "skater" boy says he plays the cello, and a basketball player who loves to cook, are told by their friends that they should just "fit in", not step outside the accepted role - but the main characters push to do what they want, to be accepted for their true self, and so they find a way to meet their responsibilities (he to his team, her to the "science club") and still pursue their dream of singing in the musical....
I just felt like it is in line with our family values, and the package, while "pop culture", is clean, cute, and I didn't mind having it on over and over again.

Hannah, OTOH, I saw a small bit on TV and wasn't impressed, my kids have never seen it and never asked to.

HTH!

[karne]

Yes to HSM, and my child is 9. Was behind where many other kids were interms of when they saw this, but we don't do alot of media, so this was a big deal. It's a fun musical, definitely teen-focused, which my child didn't really connect with-it was really all about the musical, and feeling a bit grown up.

No to HM--I am super-wary of giving my kid access to teen pop stars when so much of what ends up happening in their lives doesn't fit well with our family. On the other hand, my 6 y/o niece loves her, went to the concert, and parents think she's great. They think we're over-protective.

[Jessy1019]

My five year old finds both of these entertaining. She is not so much into the commercialism . . . I think we offered her a tee shirt from each for the summer since we had a store credit to use up at Macy's, but she wouldn't have asked on her own. She just likes the shows.

I don't mind them. We actually saw HSM the first time because I wanted to watch it -- I like teenybopper movies.

Rylie hasn't really started looking at tv characters as "role models" yet, but I don't think either the HSM characters or Hannah Montana would make TERRIBLE ones. I don't like the secret-keeping in Hannah, but then again, I just don't do secrets and I am easily frustrated with shows that involve a character keeping a big secret (ie: Smallville, Heroes, etc).

I don't know . . . in the grand scheme of things, I just don't think what my kids watch on tv is worth stressing over.

[amcal]

I'm so glad my kids aren't into this sort of thing yet. The over done commercialism really bothers me. They both got HM valentines this year from a school mate and they were curious but it ended there. I'm so glad they still enjoy Noggin and don't ask for anything other than that.

[mamazee]

My daughter luckily isn't interested in tv, and what little she does watch seems to be limited to stuff like Handy Manny.

A lot of the girls in her kindergarten class watch that stuff. The only thing that seems weird is that they all talk about having little boyfriends and girlfriends already. If you watch shows about teenagers, that's likely to be one of the themes. It seems weird having 5-year-olds be so conscious of that kind of thing.

[HikeYosemite]

My 9yo DD is homeschooled, and even she and her friends are into HSM and Hannah Montana. I think the HSM movies are fun--I enjoy the dancing and music--and all of my kids enjoy singing the songs. It seems like fairly harmless fun. DD even got a karaoke-type HSM video game that she really enjoys (the graphics are primitive, though), and the result of all this has been more singing and music in our household. We do talk try to steer DD toward other things and other interests, however, as some kids seem prone to becoming a bit obsessed with the whole thing. We also talk about movie and pop stars being "just people" and not worthy of emulation or worship just because they are in movies or TV.

I have a bit more trouble with Hannah Montana and the materialism she promotes (song lyrics about being famous, the joys of riding a limousine, and having lots of stuff). We let DD enjoy the music--too hard to keep her away from it with her group of friends--but we talk about how our values are different.

Some of DD's friends get the teen magazines and tell her about the movie/pop star gossip. Some of this gossip has been a little steamy. I'm not at all happy about this, but it gives us a chance to talk about the media, rumors, sensationalism, etc. Now her usual response to her friends is, "you can't be sure that's true just because it's in a magazine."

[amcal]

Originally Posted by mamazee

A lot of the girls in her kindergarten class watch that stuff. The only thing that seems weird is that they all talk about having little boyfriends and girlfriends already. If you watch shows about teenagers, that's likely to be one of the themes. It seems weird having 5-year-olds be so conscious of that kind of thing.

I wonder if this is where my kids get it? My kids don't watch these shows. Noggin, PBS and the occasional video (Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Snow Dogs) are the norm around here. But, my 6yo and my 4.5 yo talk about being "In love" with boys in their class, they talk about marriage etc... It's really quite shocking to me. We don't talk about stuff like this, we don't tease about boys, we don't pretend they are older than what they are and therefore, don't talk to them about adult issues. But, even though they don't hear it at home, they both have started talking about these adult issues. And, they're at different schools.

Just last night my 4.5 yo was asking DH how he fell in love with me, why he married me etc.. and then she said that she's in love with clayton but he doesn't want to play with her so he probably won't ever want to marry her. It made me sort of sad that they're even thinking things like this

[rinse_repeat]

We recently got rid of cable, but my almost 4 y/o really enjoys both. HSM is very kid friendly, imo. Very clean, nothing bad at all. HM isn't bad, either. DD1 really likes singing the songs.

[trinity6232000]

Originally Posted by amcal

Just last night my 4.5 yo was asking DH how he fell in love with me, why he married me etc.. and then she said that she's in love with clayton but he doesn't want to play with her so he probably won't ever want to marry her. It made me sort of sad that they're even thinking things like this

This is really the norm psychologically. I mean a lot of people don't put much stock in Freud, but it's a part of his phallic stage when a child's sexual attachment to the parent of the opposite sex. Then shortly after we develop crushes on kids our age.
Even Mr. Rogers talked about this. I remember as a child finding out I wouldn't be marrying my dad from Mr. Rogers. I also had a TON of crushes starting in pre-school. My dd (7yo) has a "boy friend" in her class, and she talks about marrying him. This year it's Joshua, last year it was Derek, and in pre-school it was another little boy, who pursued dd.
Our children are play acting. We are their role models, the mommies and the daddies. (Or mommies w/mommies or partners, or daddies and daddies). So it's natural for them to act out our worlds in their own world with parenting, marriage, jobs, etc.

I assume that in the next year my dd will think boys have cooties.



On the Hanna/HSM front. My dd has seen both, but doesn't ask for the stuff. We've talked a lot, since she was even too young to really grasp, about how businesses want our money and how they advertise to get us to spend our money. Once dd wanted Hanna PJ's at the store. I showed her two other sets of PJ's and we discussed the prices. I told her she could buy the Hanna ones, but for the same price she could have 3 sets of the other PJ's. (Seriously can you believe that Hanna PJ's were almost $30 ). We have talked about this regarding the toys shown to be inside of cereal, and how they look SO COOL on the box, and then you get it home and it's pretty lame. She got it. Partly because I give her a certain amount to spend in stores, and it's up to her to decide how it's spent. I allow her to buy toys that I know won't be played with, and then we talk about it later.

I saw Grease when I was dd's age. I didn't grow up thinking I had to change myself to get a man. My Mom actually talked it to death. She was upset that Sandy got all hussy at the end. I didn't care either way. I just wanted to sing and dance to the songs.

[Jessy1019]

Originally Posted by trinity6232000

So it's natural for them to act out our worlds in their own world with parenting, marriage, jobs, etc.

ITA. We don't limit media, but there are so many ways for kids to start learning about (and thus, imitating) adult relationships and other aspects of adult life. Even fairy tales and nursery rhymes talk about these issues!

My daughter talks about whether she might have a girlfriend or a boyfriend when she grows up, she speculates on marriage and careers that she might have, plans how many children she wants, etc. I don't think she's had any real crushes yet, but she has a couple "boyfriends". This is stuff that she hears and sees all around her, and especially at home . . . daddy contemplating a career change, mommy saying she doesn't like weddings or want to get married, the two of us reminiscing about dating and how we met, etc etc.

IMO, it is great for kids to be exposed to this stuff. It's important developmentally. What is childhood, if not preparation for adulthood? It doesn't have to be serious -- I'm 28 and I'm only sometimes serious myself -- but role-playing and experimenting is what childhood is all about.

[mamazee]

It's healthy so long as they're modeling healthy relationships. I don't know that much about these shows, but a lot of TV doesn't really show healthy relationships. And some shows about teenagers show this "I must have a boyfriend or I'm worthless" angle that I don't want my daughter to pick up.

So in general I agree with you but it depends on the specifics IMO.

[Jessy1019]

Originally Posted by mamazee

It's healthy so long as they're modeling healthy relationships. I don't know that much about these shows, but a lot of TV doesn't really show healthy relationships. And some shows about teenagers show this "I must have a boyfriend or I'm worthless" angle that I don't want my daughter to pick up.

So in general I agree with you but it depends on the specifics IMO.

I don't get that vibe from HM or HSM. I know it shows up in some of the other (more adult-oriented) movies we've watched with our daughter, but we talk about those things as they come up.

[CarrieMF]

A lot of the girls in her kindergarten class watch that stuff. The only thing that seems weird is that they all talk about having little boyfriends and girlfriends already. If you watch shows about teenagers, that's likely to be one of the themes. It seems weird having 5-year-olds be so conscious of that kind of thing.

This has nothing to do with either of these shows or any other show the kids that age watch. How many of us had "boyfriends" in kindergarten. I know when I was in K all of us girls had the same boyfriend, I don't know if it he knew it or not.lol The only thing any of us had to watch was Sesame Street & Mr. Dressup.

[Sandrine]

I like HSM because it's one that doesn't have violence. So i let my kids watch it and they enjoy the dance and music.

[moonshoes]

It's a "no" on both of those for me. DD is 6 1/2 and I think those shows are fine for the preteen crowd but I don't see the point of her going there so young. She's fine with "Word Girl" and "Jane and the Dragon."

She's aware of them, of course, but she is homeschooled so I don't think she is exposed to it as much as if she were going to school.

[firespiritmelody]

I think the HSM movies are cute. I don't like HM as much, but I don't think it's as bad as some of the other shows on disney. I can't stand "thats so raven" and "cory in the house" the kids are so mean to each other in those shows.

I think communication with our kids is the most important thing to remember in all of this. We can't let the shows do our parenting for us. Let them watch it, and be there to ask questions or to talk about what the characters did (and maybe what they could have done differently) We also talk about how it's not real, just pretend, just TV etc.

All in all, I think both HSM and HM are pretty harmless. My almost 4 year old watches both with her sister and I haven't seen any negitive effects from either.

[Ruthla]

IMO, HSM and HM are both appropriate for kids- there's no violence or sex in either of them and nothing I find particularly innapropriate for children to view, with a few small exceptions.

I find that, in Hannah Montana, the children don't always treat the adults with respect, which could be "bad role modeling"- but it's subtle stuff, nothing dramatic that's truly innapropriate for kids to view.

There's a little bit of "bad behavior" in HSM as well, but not nearly as much, and they show the consequences (Sharpay is mean to other kids and then at the end she realizes she has no friends.) I think the first movie is a bit more wholesome than the 2nd one (defending her turf as the lead in the High School play vs: trying to break up an established romantic couple and using her parent's influence at the country club to control others.)

Both the show and the movies are mostly clean fun with lots of good music. I let all 3 of my kids watch them, along with other Disney Channel movies and TV shows.

I'm not sure what I'd have DS watch if he didn't have older siblings, but since he does, and he enjoys what his big sisters watch, I see no reason to protect him from "preteen shows" that I find harmless for kids of any age.

[SusanInItaly]

I enjoy HSM along with my DD and I too remember watching Grease and the sexualness (like when Danny is "parked" with Sandy) went right over my head. I just loved the songs.

We don't have cable so DD has very limited exposure to HM. She knows who she is, and when we travel we let her watch it but I don't buy the merchandise and she's not asking for it either.

[HomeBirthMommy]

We love HSM around here! I think it's great there is a movie that is so wholesome for them ( my dd's are 8 and 6). I'm not as crazy about HSM2. I think Sharpay is a little too "Paris Hilton" in that one, plus I don't think the songs are as good.

My girls occasionally watch HM and I'm OK with it. Dd1 has a couple of her cd's and I really liie the messages in her music (nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes, etc).