Lindsay Lohen: The Yenta's View

Yes, yes, I know. Lindsay Lohen isn't Jewish. However, she's been all over every major news outlet for the last few weeks. I dont really care about her, and in fact, I was happy that she had to go jail. Obviously she hadn't learned her lesson, and I'm sick of all the celebrities that somehow get off the hook for doing things that would get the rest of us mortals in major trouble. But she was just released from jail, and I have to wonder if she learned any lesson whatsoever.

What is your take on her situation?

This does, however, make me think about Jewish parenting in general. My parents were always pretty relaxed, I never had a curfew, and in fact, my parents generally let me do anything as long as I got straight A's. In high school a few people made remarks to me about how "oh well Jewish parents are just easy going" or "it's because you're Jewish". I had never thought about my particular situation until I heard these comments, and then upon further investigation I noticed that generally my Jewish friends also had relaxed parents and my non-Jewish friends did not.

For a split second I thought that perhaps its because when Jews turn 13 we become adults upon completing our B'nai Mitzvahs. But, really? Does any Jewish parent think of their 14 or 16 year old as an adult?  That seems a bit simplistic to me.

Maybe it's a paradigm shift, and it's the idea that their children are on their way to adulthood? And as such, parents tend to allow their children the room to step into adulthood with less invasive guidance?

Do you think Lindsay Lohen would be in a different situation if she were raised by Jewish parents? (as I write this, I realize that I don't even know what religion, if any, she was raised with)

This also makes me think about Scientology, which for the record, this Yenta considers a cult. When the whole Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes procreation happened there was a lot of media coverage about Scientology. I remember reading in one magazine (probably something very reputable like US Weekly, which is obviously a hard hitting news outlet that fact checks, HA) an interview with some members of Scientology. They talked about how Scientology wants all parents to treat children more like adults, and rather than tell their children how to behave, they encourage parents to give children options. That seems pretty reasonable to me. Perhaps they stole the Jewish parents handbook?