By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

You can't choose your parents.

Two excellent cases in point: Christina Silvas and Anna Nicole Smith, both of whom have achieved some level of notoriety mainly because they have taken off their clothes in public. Also, each of these women has a minor child at home whose life is bound to impacted for a long time by his or her mother's decisions.

Silvas, as you may have heard, lives in the San Francisco area raising her kindergaten-age daughter as a single mother. Controversy has erupted because her daughter's enrollment in a Christian school was put at risk by Silvas' decision to earn a living as a stripper in a local night club.

That put her in direct violation of a written agreement she entered into with the school, and her little girl was initially expelled, according to news reports. It was later reported that the school had offered to waive the child's tuition for her final month in school so that the mother could quit her job.

While the school and its sponsoring church apparently bent over backward to help this woman through this situation without compromising its own principles, Silvas found a way to cash in on her newfound fame. She accepted an offer to appear regularly on a local radio program, then agreed to take off her clothes for Playboy (the fee was undisclosed, but it's probably substantial).

As you can probably imagine, that also violates the written agreement with the school, which is simply a commitment by the parent to support the philosophy of the school. Since Silvas' recent career choices fly directly in the face of any teachings one might expect at a Christian school, such an agreement is not unreasonable.

But the bigger picture here concerns the child. What is she learning at school, and how does it compare with what she is learning at home? Why did this woman put her daughter in a Christian school to begin with? School officials, while disappointed with her mother's judgment, have apparently decided to let the child finish the academic year, which makes one wonder if the school is more concerned about her well-being than her own mother is.

One also has to wonder what Christina will think the first time her little girl comes home from school sometime in the future and says, "Mom, guess what? So-and-so in my class showed me some pictures of you today, and you didn't have any clothes on." Sadly, it doesn't appear that such a scenario will affect this mother one way or the other.

But her daughter will have something in common with the teenage son of Anna Nicole Smith, who probably would be collecting shopping carts at a Wal-Mart back in her native Texas if she had not taken her clothes off for Playboy's cameras years ago. After hitting the oil-tycoon-widow lottery, she now has her sights set on an "Osbournes"-style reality TV show, to be broadcast on the E! cable network later this year.

One reported feature of this new show will allow viewers to choose the father of her next child. (Talk about interactive television.) She desperatetly wants to have another baby, but plans to find a sperm donor rather than the more traditional route of having an actual relationship with the father. "I want to have a child so bad," she reportedly said. "No fathers, it's just going to be one-night stands."

What a fantastic example she is setting for her son. One can only wonder what he has already been exposed to in his household, if any of the dozens of tabloid tales over the past decade are anywhere near the truth.

Christina Silvas and Anna Nicole Smith are adults and can choose whatever twisted lifestyles they want. Their children, unfortunately, have to live with those choices as well, and their attitudes about most social and cultural issues such as the family, fatherhood, and how modern society rewards filthy living will likely be shaped by their home environment.

This should make many of you stop and thank God for your parents. I know I do.

[Monroe Roark can be reached at mroark@TheCitizenNews.com.]

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