Miley Cyrus Doesn't Owe Parents an Apology for Her Raunchy VMA Performance

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Rut-ro. Miley Cyrus has gone and done it! Her raunchy VMAs performance has set the mommies' tongues a clucking!

Did you see her gyrating and twerking up there? Did you see her rip off that sexy teddy bear onesie and reveal her so pale they blended right into her skin undies? Did you see her letting Robin Thicke perform fake anal right out there in the middle of everything?

What are our kids supposed to think?

Well, how about nothing?

My 8-year-old is a Miley Cyrus fan. She danced to "Party in the USA" at her pre-school graduation, and she's seen her fair share of Hannah Montana episodes. Today I asked her what she thinks about Miley, and she said, quite simply, "She's cool. I love singing her music!"

She didn't, however, have an opinion about Miley's VMAs gyrations, for one simple reason: she didn't see it -- or any of the VMAs for that matter.

She didn't watch because she was in bed -- school starts soon, and we've reinstituted 8 p.m. bedtime to ready for early rising. She didn't watch because it was the MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS. It wasn't a show for kids. And when I myself finally pulled up videos of Miley letting it all hang out (I skipped the VMAs to catch up on Breaking Bad), I made sure she was in another room before I hit play. 

She can like Miley's songs, even like some of Miley's (kid-appropriate) acting. But it's not up to Miley to protect my kid from Miley acting out.

It's up to me.

So I have to ask: what is all the fuss about?

Did Miley act like an idiot up there on that stage? Sure. But then, she also acted a lot like a 20-year-old who is still figuring out who she is; a 20-year-old who has had to endure the judgment of an entire nation as she's transitioned from sweet little kid to teenager to young adult.

Miley Cyrus has not had it easy with the pressure of growing up in the spotlight. Do we really need to add "being a role model to our kids" onto her heavy burden?

Is that really her job?

I don't think so. It's no more her job to raise my kid and do right by my kid than it is Alex Rodriguez' job to stay off steroids so that my kid's love of baseball remains untainted, or any other celebrity's job to live a stained life just so my kid never has to learn that there are bad people and bad things in this world. 

That's why kids have parents. We're here to shield them from the bad things out there, to introduce those issues in kid-appropriate ways, to pick and choose what they learn about and when.

So to all the parents demanding Miley Cyrus' head on a platter, I have to ask: where were you when your kid was watching Miley grind on a foam finger? Why weren't YOU protecting your kid?

Do you really believe Miley Cyrus owes parents an apology here?

Image via Getty/MTV