[33girl]

I do think the media has a lot to do with it. This struck me over the weekend, actually, cleaning out old stuff at Dad 33's. 15-20 years ago we didn't have InStyle or Teen People magazines that are all about celebrity lifestyles - not to say we didn't have celebrity focused magazines, just not to the degree of celebrating the THINGS they had that those do. Same with TV - Entertainment Tonight was it. Now we have E! plus however many other cable channels that are totally focused on celebrities. You see that 24/7 and start thinking celebrities are just like you, so why are you not living like that?

not to mention the proliferation of home decorating/shopping shows and magazines featuring "real" people. Trading Spaces started out as a fun idea, now it's gotten to the point where people think there's something wrong if they don't redo their houses every month. It's completely insane.

I don't think it's totally the media - there are most definitely parents who put in their kids' heads these notions - but if you compare the media from a while ago to what it is now, it definitely plays a big part.