Encouragement or exploitation?

When heard that Michael Jackson had passed away, like everyone else I also felt a plethora of emotions sweeping. Afterall he was one of my favourite singers. I remember feeling elated when I saw MJ win a slew of Grammys. We were glued to our T.V sets. We got his tapes and used to listen to it everyday.

Over a period of time there were several singers whom we would enjoy listening to, but somehow MJ never faded away.

After his death it was sad to read all the sordid details about him and his childhood, where he felt his father was exploiting him. In general according to him his childhood was not a very happy one.

We see so many reality shows on T.V like little champs, and other shows involving children. Many of them are so very talented that it is a pleasure watching or rather listening to them. But I wonder how many of these children are being forced, bribed or coarced by their parents to participate or to practice so that they can perform well. Once they are among the top ten or so how much pressure do these children are put into by the expectation of their family and friends. When children have talent, as parents one feels it needs to be encouraged. The medium of T.V is the tool where talent can be show cased. So we have thousands of parents along with their children lining up during preliminary rounds.

As they go further into the competition, stress increases and somehow I find there is no longer any fun element but pressure, just like the yearly exam stress, infact more than that. There is a very thin line between encouragemet and exploitation. That is when I feel as parents are we encouraging or expoiting our children?