Parenting and Responsibility and Children and Corporate, what, Greed?

It isn't nice to kick a person who's down. Every once in a while, though, it seems appropriate, and certainly satisfying.

On the metaphorical ground (warning: the following is based on an article in the New York Daily News email of 12.20.07 by Ben Widdicombe, "Jamie Lynn Spears bumps ma's book;" that's a gossip item folks; I can't verify), is one "Christian" publishing house, Nashville based Thomas Nelson. This company has "quietly stepped away from a planned book by Mama Lynne on parenting, due to be released for Mother's Day 2008. (Which, coincidentally, is quite near Jamie Lynn's due date!)."

The question which immediately arises is, What on earth is a Christian publishing house doing publishing a book on mothering by the mother of Britney Spears? Certainly the difficulties Ms Spears-Federline has undergone are beyond the control of Mama Lynne, but other than a plea for continuing prayer from the book's readers, what good could come of it?

The proposed title of the book was Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World."

Hmmm. If it were to be a guide on how to avoid some of the pitfalls of parenting in this age of instant information and fame, perhaps it was a good idea. Actually, it is a good idea, and it should most probably go forward.

But if it were to be a guide on how to raise a child and instill values with which most parents agree, then it wasn't a good idea, although it would surely have made money as a source of laughter.

It isn't going forward, so the cynic raises questions. How much money does a publishing house, identified as "Christian," seek to make by publishing a book by a "pop culture mom?" And wouldn't the "gossip" element of the book's author be even more profitable with the disclosure of her 16-year old's pregnancy?

Probably. But look what it took for the publishing house to wake up to "values."

At long last, responsibility.

Someone should write a song.

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