Your Kids Are Celebrities

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Canada's wealth.

There are untold stories where kids go online to mingle with celebrities. Some celebrities turn out to be wolves’ in sheep’s clothing, and parents end up not knowing the graves of their children. Maybe they were tossed overboard, after men that hate women used them. Human trafficking involves kidnapping and other crimes, but it is also a conscious decision by women to take a plane and go to unknown destinations to meet unknown men or to go and live in P. Diddy’s mansion. They are not victims.

Women hanker for ‘celebrities’ because of the camera. Your kids are celebrities for the mere fact that you gave birth to them. Celebrity status begins at home. There are cultures where children have surname poetry. They grow up with the family and neighbors using that poetry. As soon as the child says her name, strangers recite the poetry and the child smiles. It is poetry that places her in a certain place, with certain people. The poetry celebrates her.

We grew up thinking grandma’s name was Khabazela. We learned later in life that it was her poetry name because of her maiden surname, Mkhize. You know how kids are. We called her Khabazela because we heard everybody calling her that. That is identity. You have the Irish and Scots. In South Africa they have amaZulu, a nation where married women are not called Mrs. In-laws address them by their fathers’ surnames. That’s why my grandmother was called Khabazela.

That is celebrity status. All cultures have in-built mechanisms that inculcate that identity at an early age. The home celebrity status can be a buffer to lethal online fame and fortune, where kids identify with people who are in the ever-present camera eye.

Kids don’t listen to parents but a constant reminder that people who are always on television with no clothes on, are fallible like billions of ordinary people, is a must. That is why when ‘celebrity’ couples divorce they send a message: “We appreciate your love and support but we would like our privacy during this difficult period.” That is the standard message.

Wishing to be a ‘celebrity’ is wishing someone’s non-existent reality.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

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