I’ve heard it all before… teen role model goes from sweet to tart overnight. Last week I heard all the talk of Miley Cyrus and her new video.  Moms were all manner of upset that Hannah Montana had gone from the adorable girl to gyrating video queen over night.

I reserved judgment until I watched it – I spent three minutes and 49 seconds watching this 17 year old young woman dressed up in bird feathers, banging on the bars of some oversized, bizarre bird cage, singing about how she ‘can’t be tamed, can’t be blamed, and can’t be saved.’   Inappropriate. Yes.  Sad. Even more so.

This is a 17 year old child.  She may look like a woman and she may even dance like a woman, but she is a child.  She may live life in the fast lane.  But she is a child.  Someone – in authority – had to look at this video and announce they were fine with her performance.  And that’s when I get mad.

Someone had to look at this feathered, gyrating, over-sexualized mess of a video and announce they were good with it – and that someone was her parents.  She is 17!  They had the right to stop this from ever happening.   My question is why didn’t they?

As parents it’s our job to stop our kids from making incredibly stupid mistakes.  This doesn’t mean we will always succeed, but we should at LEAST TRY! I’ve read the interviews that tell of Miley given free reign to be creative.  There’s creative and then there’s trashy.    It’s our job to help them make good decisions even when they don’t like it.

I think Mr.& Mrs. Cyrus failed this child. She depends on the two of them for direction and discernment.  Certainly, she has managers, handlers, and all kinds of other ‘ers’ to help her career, but her parents have but one job – LOVE her.  And in that love they are to help her make good decisions.  Sometimes that help comes in the form of denying a request.  So what if she wants  to express her creativity.  She can do that without the gyrating and thrusting – and without the trashy metal corset.

What will she think of this video in years to come.  Will she regret her decision to put something so overtly sexual out for all the world to see?

I made some STUPID mistakes as a young woman and I regret them.   The difference in me and Miley (beyond the host of obvious ones) is there’s no film footage of my stupidity.  Sadly, Miley will always have this music video.

So before we all jump on the “bad Miley” bandwagon, think about the mistakes you made when you were a teenager.  Think about the ones your parents stopped you from making.

This is just a teenage girl with way to much authority in her decisions and who is sorely lacking adults to help her walk the road from childhood to adulthood.  She breaks my heart.

So what are your thoughts on the Miley Cyrus ‘Can’t Be Tamed’ video?