How Pop-Culture Shaped My Life

I ran across a couple of articles recently that made me stop and consider how pop culture has influenced me throughout my life. What is popular at the time, what things I adopt into my own lifestyle and even what I wear or what hairstyles I chose? It certainly has produced interesting photo opportunities for my parents which have proven quite painful when seeing my so called “cute” bowl-cut haircut (mom insists it was the Dorothy Hamill style, I'm pretty certain it was an unfortunate accident involving a bowl and curling iron!) and striped dropped waist sweatshirt dress with off the shoulder styling’s and leg warmers - Think Flashdance clothing for kids!

Pop culture takes on a whole new shape though as I age. Things that have always been in my life are fading away to be referred to as relics; Antiques of the past to be hidden away for future generations to wonder “What were they thinking” only to be found later tucked into a museum for future generation of children to say “Ooh that looks cool”. I find myself wondering though, what things of today will be remembered as something interesting? What images will my children grimace at when glancing at dated adolescent photos of themselves?

I have mentioned many times that I plan on being the type of parent that encourages through leading by example. In the case of pop-culture though, I’m just crazy enough to exploit some things I feel less exuberant about by gently urging my children NOT to do certain things, of course through leading by example. You want green/purple/red hair; see how cool mom looks with it! Does wearing baggy pants look enticing? What does mom look like with a pair of droopy, poopy-looking pants on the ground? Want to have some nasty-lyric song blaring throughout the house? I’m going to learn all the words and sing them loudly while it’s playing… I am moderately certain that what once seemed like a good idea will quickly be dismissed as something the “older generations have adopted”, and hopefully dissuade my children from jumping on the band-wagon adopting these often weird oddball fads.

In saying that though, I am also need to remember that these fads really don't matter much in the long run. Will allowing my child to temporarily paint his hair alter the person I am teaching him to be? Will allowing my daughter to have one too many holes in her ears turn her evil? It comes down to choosing my battles I suppose and teaching things that are really important to me. It also comes down to helping my children understand that some things considered cool may not be the best idea later in their lifetime. Will it injure them? Maybe just their pride, and quite possibly only when they glance at themselves in 40-or-so years and think, “What WAS I thinking?”

For me it's about teaching “respect”, respect for everything in life and how my children can learn to live within that realm. I will encourage my children to walk their own path in life and to hopefully walk to the beat of their own drummer. If they encourage some pop-icon that they choose to follow for a time though, that’s probably fine, however I’m hoping they’ll see some of the foolishness for what it is and choose their own unique path - It may not be the popular one, but it certainly makes for an interesting journey!

Bounce-Around Friday Nights in Ann Arbor

When it comes to have a night out with my husband, the first hurdle we have to jump is the all-important babysitter... Typically my mom helps us out, but now that she, along with the in-laws winter down south this becomes problematic. Not because we can't FIND a sitter, but because sitters fees get expensive rather quickly, and that night out turns to fast food and possibly a movie. If other parents are like me though, I like to enjoy my movie-going experience with popcorn, a beverage and maybe a sweet even if I HAVE just eaten dinner!

What's a parent to do?

I just heard about the Kidz Night Out at Xtreme Bounce (82 Aprill Drive, Ann Arbor 48103) in Ann Arbor. Every Friday evening from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m., parents can drop children ages 6 and up for a night of bouncing and pizza for only $10! Not too shabby when a sitter would cost me at least $5/hour, now my dilemma is how to get my 4-year old to pass for a 6 year old so that we could drop both kids and run away for a few hours...

Do you have other solutions for kids while mom and dad get to go out? If so please feel free to pass along the ideas!

2nd Chance to Win A National Geographic Kids 2010 Almanac

Thanks to all the readers who posted a comment on the Ann Arbor Mom Blog on our first National Geographic Kids 2010 Almanac give-away in late December, Gary H. of Ann Arbor won. What is really great though, is that I have been given the opportunity to give away yet ANOTHER free almanac. I'm hoping by now Gary would have received his almanac and can chime in on what a great publication it is, the photos are fantastic and the articles are engaging for children and adults alike! My children really do enjoy flipping through the pages to look...

So how can you win your own National Geographic Kids 2010 Almanac? It's simple, you'll need to visit the National Geographic Store and browse the kids area - After visiting the site, post a comment to my blog on either your favorite product or a product review if you HAVE any of the items on the site!

Several years ago, my son received the Fly and Discover Talking Globe. It's a great toy because it is a pretty basic starter globe that has several games a child can play, even my son who was three when he received it, enjoyed playing with the globe (In fact he STILL plays with it!). Flying by a joystick, kids "fly" around the world learning fun facts - He can choose Tricky Travels for a guided journey or select Creature Feature to find animals on every continent. He loves the music and sound effects of the sputtering flying airplane!!!

Hurry and respond by Valentine's Day - A winner will be chosen from all comments posted.

One Glove Wonder?

I must be the worst mom in the world tonight, or at least one that needs to re-examine disciplining her child and her own very bad reaction to a trivial problem - I actually yelled, very loudly and in a not-so-nice way, at my son for loosing a glove. A glove!

I should say though, that after my son’s break-down just last week over loosing one of his new Iron Man gloves, I thought he’d have learned a lesson. (Loosing a pair of gloves a week is getting expensive!) This entire school year I have been drilling home that his gloves and hat need to go into, and stay, in his backpack when they aren’t on his hands. So why this should even have been an issue. He’s old enough to know better. His crying and carrying on last week over this glover were terrible! I thought that telling him not to worry, since a single Iron Man glove would be of little interest to anyone, however since the lost and found box has yet to belch out the afore-mentioned single missing glove, I now have to wonder if there was another little boy missing HIS Iron Man glove… But I digress.

This post is about discipline, both mine and his. It’s also about teaching a child how to care for their own things and about handling the repercussions when they don’t.

I have been asking my son to keep everything in his backpack since the start of school. I have also told him that HE is responsible for his own backpack and lunch bag, however I may have set a bad example when the dog ate through both the backpack and the lunch bag when my son did not listen, and left his bag out where the dog could get at it. What did I do? Went right out and bought him a new backpack and lunch bag. I suppose I didn’t think about what message this would send my son, after all he needed both as the backpack and the lunch bag were beyond repair. But what does that say to a child? Don’t worry mom will just buy more, right? How would it have better been handled? He did pretty well too until the missing, well love glove incident of last week. Mostly though this is due to my constant reminder for him to be aware of his things.

Today as my son was emptying his backpack and yet again said the dreaded words, “Mom I lost a glove.” What makes this even worse is that it is actually 3 missing gloves since his (also new) Batman gloves were double-layered gloves that included two black full gloves with two fingerless gloves on top. I was going to suggest that from now on he would have to wear one Iron Man glove and the now single Batman glove, the problem is the remaining Batman glove is the fingerless one!

I told him that tomorrow he and his father would have to go out and buy two new pairs of gloves, with HIS money. I just can not discuss the gloves again. I still think I missed the mark though. My biggest concerns as a parent though are ‘why should missing one glove cause such an eruption of my emotions’ and more importantly, since it did, what will happen when my son truly does something “bad” and I get mad? I also need to consider him coming to me with his real issues; if I react so poorly won’t he choose to not come to me as a parent?

So here I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, and knowing fully well that I handle led the entire situation very poorly. I know I am not alone as there are at least 20 single gloves in the lost and found that would likely produce likewise unhappy parents, I just need to re-examine my own behavior over the missing glove incident tonight as well as how to handle my son’s need for new gloves.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I am currently reflecting upon some of the following questions:

- How do you teach your children to respect personal property?
- How do you teach a child the value of ‘things”?
- At what “age” should children be expected to be responsible for belongings?
- How do you discipline a child when something “necessary” is lost or damaged?

Free Contest: Kids Win Money For College

NEWS BREAK:

Beginning January 18, Michigan children in grades K-6 can enter The Michigan Education Savings "Dream Out Loud Challenge". The contest allows students to write, draw or create a video that portrays the way that they will change the world after college - Your student could win $2500 toward their college tuition and $1000 for their school! To make it easier for children of all ages, prizes will be awarded to the winning entry in each grade category: Grades K–2, Grades 3–4, Grades 5–6.

Submissions must be postmarked or entered online by March 15, 2010. This contest is FREE to enter but could pay off big! For complete details on the MESP Dream Out Loud Challenge, visit the contest website.