AGH! Who ARE these people?

Remember Kerry Campbell, the woman who said she injected her eight-year-old daughter with Botox to help her win beauty pageants? Turns out she may have been lying and not just about the Botox.

Campbell’s real name is Sheena Upton. When Campbell/Upton told of using the toxin on Britney on ABC’s Good Morning America, the proverbial fertilizer hit the fan. Child Protective Services got wind of Campbell/Upton and her alleged antics and opened an investigation. But as bad as injecting her kid with Botox would have been, could this be worse?

Take a look at the photos. If Campbell/Upton didn’t inject Britney with Botox, that means all these pictures are staged. That’s a nice way of saying she told her daughter to lie for the camera. Way to go mom.

Teaching kids to lie on cue, hmm, sound familiar? Who could forget the infamous “Balloon Boy” whose father told him to pretend to be in a runaway hot air balloon so they could become famous and land a reality TV show? The boy was later found hiding in the attic and you could practically hear Thomas Heene’s butt pucker when his son outed him on national TV.

Is reality TV the new sweatshop and how far are parents willing to go to make their kids, and by extension, themselves, famous?

So called America’s mom Kate Gosselin has battled criticism about whether televising her kids’ every move is a good idea and what her true motive is. Gosselin says she does it for the money, arguing that reality TV provides a good living for them. That could very well be what Heene and Campbell/Upton were after. But is any amount of money worth teaching your kids that it’s okay to lie and deceive others as a means to an end? I don’t think so.

That’s my take, what about you? Would you ever allow your kids to be on reality TV? How much money would it take for you to give up your children’s anonymity? Why or why not?

Fire away!