Celebrity Worship Instilled at Birth?

From the time we are born, we are encouraged to idolize and revere celebrities. Not actual humans yet, no, that starts a few years later, after the initial behavior is programmed. But when we are infants and toddlers, we’re inundated with images of lovable characters like Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Curious George. 

Maybe it is our parents who plant feelings of adoration in our hearts for these cultural icons. Perhaps it’s because they remind parents of their own childhoods, or maybe they like that their children are calmer when they are engrossed in the TV, allowing parents to focus other things, like breathing. Regardless of why parents are fond of cartoon characters, the fact is, children love them.

Kids’ faces light up when they see an object featuring one of their favorite TV shows. The two-year-old that I nanny for can spot a Doc McStuffins lunchbox on the other side of Walmart. Or we’ll be walking through the grocery section at Target and she’ll start squealing with delight because she sees Minnie Mouse gift bags a couple hundred feet away in the greeting card/gift section. Today at the library, another little girl picked up a Dora the Explorer book to take home and the look of fierce jealousy on my little buddy’s face was unmistakable. She insisted that we put back all the books we were reading and look for a Dora book right away.

Let me backtrack and say that maybe parents aren’t necessarily the ones to blame for this phenomenon. I remember being obsessed with characters (and later, actors and singers) my parents weren’t familiar with.

Anyway, a child’s love of The Little Mermaid or Buzz Lightyear soon turns into a love of Disney Channel or Nickelodeon stars.  If you were like me, you were really into the Olsen twins movies. Once kids get  older, they start obsessing over movie & TV stars or singers.  Teenage girls pore over images of female celebrities, mesmerized by their “perfection”, and often become distressed about their own bodies.

Two year old girls want to wear bows like Minnie Mouse and fifteen year old girls want to get lip fillers like Kylie Jenner.  We look at the fifteen year old girls and are dismayed, but we forget that they aren’t behaving any differently than they did when they were little. Their idols changed as they got older, but the point is that they are still enamored by public figures.

Fortunately, not everyone chooses poor role models. There are a lot of wonderful, positive influences out there. So I am not saying it is bad to look up to celebrities in general.

I am just intrigued by the idea that young children do the same thing I do: They get excited when they see a famous character featured on a product at the store, and they want to have it.

The more I think about this, the more I think that this behavior is not instilled by parents. I am no expert, but it seems like maybe we are born with an innate desire to look up to famous people.  

“Is there a point to this?”, you may be asking yourself. No. This concept of celebrity worship in youngsters just occurred to me at toddler storytime at the library, and I wanted to write about it, ok? Lol. If you have any thoughts on this subject, please let me know in the Comments section. I’d love to hear what you guys think!