WalletPop

It's good to know that we're reaching the halfway point this week on "I Know My Kid's a Star." The sooner this horror show is over, the better. True, it pales beside what has happened and is happening to the children from the LDS sect in Texas but it's no picnic for the kids on VH1 either. Some things are incompatible with the "best interests of the child," and I would argue to the end that striving toward stardom is one of them.

Last week's show was all about children as "brands." One mother had come in with the photo that showed her child's particular "look." Sounds like cattle being branded to me. Another mother was described as"very protective which is a great instinct as a Mom, but as a manager, you're going to have to push harder."

Actually, that's the whole point: being a mom and being a manager are incompatible.

Unavoidably, there were the usual moments of parental pressure captured for the pleasure of the stage-mother- hating public. It makes you wonder how far people will go to put themselves as well as their children in this kind of situation. Parents said things to their children like:

"They're going to crucify you."

"You're not even doing your best."

"If you can't do it, let's just go home. If we go home, you better not cry."

No wonder these children walk through the room and onto the stage looking like a line of robots.

The good news: Rocky has gotten herself (mainly) and her daughter eliminated. "The gig is up" for the Rocky Horror Show ,who in last week's episode referred to the other mother-child teams as, "whores and their brats."

Almost as good: Shannon, MacKenzie's mom, said, "I've never seen adults act like such children in my life. I believe that you can keep your morals and still make it."

Maybe, but it's a long shot.

My 87 year-old mother said it all. "These children shouldn't be burdened with this."

Beth Wechsler has a master's in social work from the Smith College School for Social Work. She has more than 35 years of experience as a child therapist.