The Moon Mom: Beyonce's Example

I love award shows.

I like to see what the stars are wearing, I like to see who wins what award, and when it’s a music-award show, there are performances by some of the world’s most famous artists. There’s also the possibility of some craziness happening during an awards show, such as Kanye West interrupting an acceptance speech or an overly excited Melissa Leo swearing in her Academy Award acceptance speech.

Sunday night, the Video Music Awards aired on MTV and there was no shortage of crazy.

Lady Gaga opened the show as a man (loved it). Katy Perry spent much of the evening with a yellow cube on top of her head, and Justin Bieber made a remark using the words "snake" and "Johnson" together that made adults everywhere squirm.

For me, the highlight of the show was a radiant Beyonce announcing her pregnancy by performing her new single “Love On Top” then opening her jacket to reveal a tiny baby bump. Her husband, Jay-Z, beamed from the audience while receiving multiple back pats and "atta boys" from Kanye West.

The Internet went crazy! There were well wishes, there were snide comments from “haters” who hope the baby doesn‘t take its looks after its father, but there also was a slew of people who think Beyonce is going to bring family values back to a demographic that desperately needs it: young black women.

There is a disproportionate number of single mothers raising African-American children. I happen to be a single mother whose single mother raised me, and I know the numbers don’t lie.

I’m too old to look to my favorite celebrities as role models. I might want to do my makeup like J Lo‘s (it‘s always perfect), and I got my hair cut the way Rihanna wore hers before she went red, but I don’t think I’m going any further than that.

Stars are influencing what young, impressionable women do, so if that entails something positive, such as starting a successful career, dating, getting married and thenhaving a baby, as Beyonce did, I’m all for it. I think there are more couples, such as Barack and Michele Obama, who can be an example to African-American girls, but I’m not going to complain. If Beyonce's example of waiting until marriage to have children influences young women, regardless of race, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

There are times when the media vilifies celebrities for their mistakes because they’re role models. I got my first scathing comments from a reader when I wrote about young starlets such as Kim Kardashian and Vanessa Hudgens who have made bad decisions, such as appearing nude in photos and using drugs. But the reality is there are girls who look up to them and think any and everything that they do is cool. So shouldn’t we be happy when we have a role model such as Beyonce, who seems to always do the right thing?