CHILDHOOD IN A FISHBOWL

HAVING FAMOUS PARENTS CAN BE SO EMBARRASSING. HOW'S A KID GOING TO COPE?

To have parents who are, as they say, dysfunctional--in this case, needy, infantile, self-indulgent, narcissistic, ruthlessly selfish hysterics who use up all the oxygen in the room and then gasp self-pityingly that they are having trouble breathing--is a maturing burden for a child, and a sad kind of discipline.

To have parents who are dysfunctional, and famous too, is a cruel and unusual fate. (Maybe not so unusual nowadays).

Children are sensitive to the slightest hint of humiliation; they tend to be almost bizarrely shamed by anything in their parents' behavior that smacks of the unconventional. What's a kid to do,...

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