Blossom

There weren't many TV stars that were the same age as me, growing up in the 80s and 90s. The 90210 kids were close. But Blossom hit the nail on the head. She was quirky, like me. Fun, like I thought I was. But now she has a graduate degree and I don't. Where did I go wrong?

It's not that I went wrong, it's the Blossom was a character and Mayim Bialik is an actress. But when you're young, you really don't see a difference. All you look forward to is the graduation episode that happens just a few weeks before yours, the excitement of what college she gets into and what she's going to do next to prove she's smarter than the average teenager. Did I know Blossom wasn't a real girl? Yes. Did I still identify with her like she was one? Yes. Was she still a good role model? Absolutely.

Apply this to the "role models" of today. Who do we have?

Paris Hilton - Celebutante whose behavior was so egregious to her family that her grandfather disowned her and obliterated her trust fund. Now pushing fashion, makeup and hair extensions.

Kim Kardashian - One of several misbehaving party-girl daughters of celebrity lawyer Robert Kardashian (died at age 59, famous for being the lawyer for OJ Simpson). In terms of behavior, his daughters get away with murder on television.

Heidi Montag - Star of The Hills, Heidi Montag, uses her body to get what she wants. She's recently married to her co-star Spencer. They are the constant hot topic on TMZ, where Heidi and Spencer's collective lack of brain cells are displayed on a daily basis. I fear what will materialize if they reproduce.

Miley Cyrus - Poor Miley, just trying to grow up too fast. From boyfriends who are WAY too old to Esquire magazine articles that show a little too much too soon, Miley may be on the fast track to Lohan-ville if she doesn't put the breaks on. One has to wonder, though. Is it Miley or the adults surrounding her (yeah, I'm looking at you Billy Ray) who are trying to keep her marketable, yet are losing her childhood in the process?

Vanessa Hudgens - Nude photos, sex innuendo and she's HOW OLD? This High School Musical star really wants to break out of the Disney bubble bad (similar to Miley). But in the process she's really taking some wrong turns. Like Miley, she's a victim of too much too soon. Unlike Miley, these escapades seem to be all her own doing. Unless publicists set these things up, in which case, there is no telling what is staged and what is real.

In a nutshell, watch the South Park episode "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" and you'll see exactly what role models like this are doing for our girls.

They aren't all like this. Emma Watson who plays Hermoine Granger in the Harry Potter movies is going to Brown this semester. There are more, but they are few and far between. People like to talk about child stars in terms of Dana Plato and Danny Bonaduce, strung out, having trouble with the fame and either coming to an early end or flirting with it.

And what of Mayim? According to Wikipedia she had her pick of universities after Blossom. Faced with the decision of whether to go to Harvard, Yale or UCLA, she chose UCLA to stay close to her family. She received her degree in 2000, a bachelor's in neuroscience, Hebrew and Jewish studies and went on to complete their Ph.D program in neuroscience in 2008. She married in 2003 and had two sons. Miles was born in 2005 and Frederick was born in 2008.

Now THAT is a role model.