It depends on what you choose to ignore. I have never been one for tabloid gossip, celebrity worship and the like. It also helps that I have worked with and for a number of extremely wealthy, hot-to-trot types. I have equally worked with down-and-out, troubled, inner-city students. You find out readily that the grass is most certainly not greener on the either side.
They key now, for me, is to translate that experience to my six-year-old daughter.
Keeping her away from celebrity zeitgeist is easy enough for now, but she gradually gets exposed through friends. Even if she legitimately enjoys someone’s music or movies, there’s still a certain amount of hype to overcome.
I decided when we adopted my daughter to talk straight to her from day one. I sugar coat nothing. This goes equally for celebrity culture. For balance, we spend time donating clothes to the Salvation Army, comic books to the Boys & Girls Club and toys to Children’s Hospital.
So far this seems to give her a sense of perspective – While she’s dancing along to Demi Lovato.