Brat Camp. So great. What a wonderful show. Now, this is the shit I studied for four years of college - human development. The challenges adolescents face, the fears we need to conquer, how we punish ourselves, how we reward ourselves, how we become whole people. Here are kids that are lacking certain mental strengths, certain abilities to trust, to grow, to love themselves. Now, of course I'm quick to blame the parents. What did they lack to turn these kids into "troubled" kids? A child is not BORN spoiled and lacking an ability to respect her parents. That shit is learned, in my opinion. When a dad is saying, "My daughter just says, 'Give me 50 bucks,' and I don't think she's spending it right," well then, MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T FUCKING GIVE HER THE CASH! Why does she think she can take money from you and use it however she pleases? Because you give her whatever she asks for! Simple, dude. Anyway. Moving on...

My favorites are Lexie, Shawn, Lauren, Nick and possibly Isaiah. Overall, these are good kids, and you can see it. They are not evil souls. They are mislead, and they have reasonable issues that were not dealt with correctly, and I don't blame them. Lauren and Shawn are so smart. I love these kids. They are committed to the program. They are articulate, kind, encouraging. They have so much potential, and I believe these two can accomplish sooo much. They're not perfect, no one is, but I can imagine as a parent what it's like to see an adolescent who has so much going for them as far as wit and ability, and watch them make poor decisions and shit on themselves. Every teenager is going to do that to themselves to some degree. It's a part of that age. Shit, it's a part of every age, but it's a very important time to recognize what you're doing and still learn to not hate yourself. It's a war. Though the 20's haven't been kind, and they have introduced new trials and tribulations that I have not accepted with open arms, the teens were terrifying and brutal because emotions lack logic and rationale, and we become strong enough to truly hurt ourselves and remain too weak to stop ourselves from doing so. As a teenager, it's a lonely world. As a parent of a teenager, I imagine it's a dangerous world where we will remember how many dark temptations came to us when we were that age, and we will pray everyday that we have raised our kids to be strong enough to learn to fight off the evils on their own without our help which we wish they will accept though we know they won't.

Sad to see that Isaiah may have spraypainted those racial slurs and may go to jail because of it. You can tell by his ability to communicate and articulate his emotions that he's a solid kid too, but you can underestimate the power of peer pressure. Maybe he's the kid who does the pressuring, but still. He's making bad decisions, and it's sad - especially when his decisions affect his record and his self-worth.

Maybe it's the editting, but I had little faith in Jada. She never took it seriously. She only wanted to go home and never appreciated that was PUT there to learn something. She seems to be a little lying brat, and she'll cruise through life that way. She'll just find someone to take care of her, someone she can manipulate. She was not disciplined correctly. She does have a nice singing voice, but that girl still needs a swift kick in the ass.

Gotta run.