Remember When

I'm going to bet that every one of us has this kind of memory.

Not a care in the world.

No concern that you're sitting next to a boy/girl with little space to spare.

Who cares what your bathing suit looks like (is it riding up, does it make me look fat or my legs scrawny?)

Or that your knees and shins have an entire landscape of bruises.

Or that you're completely filthy and your hair is matted to your head.

You're not even sure where you shoes are or whose yard you left them in.

All you care about is eating that sweet frozen delicacy on a stick.

And having as much FUN as possible.

I want a redo of one of those carefree childhood days.


 Before everything in the entire universe, seemed to matter. *sigh*

(image)

Remember When: The Carefree Days of Summer

The last two nights a bunch of the neighborhood kids ran across lawns and into back yards, pretending to be spies and planning elaborate schemes.

And a wave of nostalgia hit me about my carefree childhood days.


Which look drastically different now. The first sign it was different? I sat outside and monitored their play (well, sort of--I was reading a book).

I do have a six-year-old. Maybe I won't monitor so much when he's older, or maybe I wouldn't even check so much if I had more than one kid and was over the whole thing.

Yet there I sat making sure abduction from my front yard had not taken place and that everyone was "playing nice".

And maybe I'm dating myself here or maybe this was just in my family or 'hood but somehow I doubt it. Here goes.

REMEMBER WHEN:


*You'd head out the door in the morning, be gone for hours, only to return when you heard your mom calling you for lunch or dinner? Did your mom know where you had been all that time? NOPE!

*You didn't wait for your mom to set up a supervised play-date for you. You just showed up on someone's doorstep and started playing.


*You didn't wait for you mom or dad to get down on the floor with you. You just...played. With lots of imagination.

When did it all change?


*Was it before there were 24 hour news stations, and live interviews with parents pouring their hearts out about a missing child and other horrible things?


*Or before parents were made to feel guilty for pretty much everything? Don't get me wrong, I like that parents interact with their children way more, but hate the guilt associated with it, when I just plain don't feel like it.

My mother-in-law always says, "You poor parents have it tough these days." And I sooo get what she means.


The above ad IS crazy though, right? So we'd probably agree that some things have changed for the better, and some things, have not!

(sloshspot.com)

Remember When: Childhood Flavors

I distinctly remember the clanging of the bell,

Kids racing to the street to flag him down,

The white truck slowing at the curb,

And elbows flying for a spot in line.


I always chose an orange push-up,
Or a rocket bar.

I know the trucks are still around, but never in my neighborhood. :-(


My child has never had this experience.


The ice cream truck has melted from my life without a trace.


Bummer!
(photobucket.com/Forlo, thebehivecottage.blogspot.com, nineteen69.wordpress.com,flickr.com/photos/mojeecat)

Remember When: Rubber Bracelets

Madonna started the black rubber band craze that I wore in the 80's.

And then my friends and I changed to the more colorful, less emo version:

For this generation, there are Silly Bandz. Whoever created them is rolling in the bucks.

My son wears an armful of the dino-shaped ones everyday and exchanges shapes with other kids all the time.

Yep, the beat goes on!

MEAN GIRLS, Part Two

I mentioned yesterday that a couple YA books I'd read had mean girls in them.

They were popular in school and at the top of the food chain.

And they were involved in some brutal bullying.


A recent Twitter feed from Agent Mandy Hubbard asked if anyone REALLY had queen bee mean girls in their high school.


And it got me thinking.

I, for one, DID NOT. There was a very popular girl (the queen bee, if you will) named Laura. But she wasn't mean or a bully. Everyone was just dying to be her friend.

Which begs the question: Do these kind of characters really exist or do they only make good fiction?


YOUR THOUGHTS?

Remember When: Barbies

I love this Barbie photo shoot (for her 50th anniversary) entitled, “My Year in Paris with Christian Louboutin”.

So it got me thinking about Barbies.

I wasn't so much a Barbie girl, as I was a Skipper girl.

You know, Barbie's more awkward, less endowed younger sister:

Makes a lot of sense NOW!!

How about you?

(credits: rogue.ph/blogs, dmcginley.com/mibskipper02.jpg)

Three Reasons I Get Sucked Into Teen Shows

1. You can relive high school--a little.

I am not one who wishes I were back there, in the 80's. In fact, I abhorred high school. I was an awkward... wallflower. I wasn't picked on or any such thing. I was just... invisible.

I didn't blossom until my college years.

So I like to spy on the other side, when I watch these shows. And some are really terrible and cheesy, I know.


2. It helps my research as a YA/Teen novel writer. Good one, right?

But seriously, it helps to keep up with the lingo, and with future ideas.

The other night I was taken back there, to the 80's... I had a memory that I'd long forgotten about:

My senior year, a very popular basketball/football player asked me (the wallflower) to go steady with him. At first I thought it was a joke, but as it turned out, it wasn't. The only problem (besides the fact that I was shy and awkward) was, I wasn't even remotely attracted to him. Even a little.

So I came to a crossroads of sorts: I could either pretend to like him and have free entry into his popular clique--instant fame. OR, I could turn him down and be frowned upon by that same clique.

So, guess what I chose? Yep, to remain a wallflower...who now got stares and frowns. But I'm proud of my decision too!
I figure, that story's got to make it in some of my pages.

3. There are some good teen shows on television.

I thought I'd give 90210 and Melrose Place a chance because I watched the original ones, but BLEH. I don't like them very much.

Here's two that I do like:

GLEE! Of course, because I was in Show Choir. :) But, it's a smart and funny show.




The Vampire Diaries. Yeah, don't even say it. They do resemble Robert and Kristen. But really, that's where the Twilight references end (they even made fun of Twilight in the last episode). What can I say? I like brooding, and tortured men. Hey, the books were written in the 90's--it makes me curious about them--anyone read them?

A tribute to Camping and S'mores

So we're off this weekend.....

To camp out and roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories!

Fun for the whole family :)

I'll try not to eat too many S'mores!



Check out these fabulous treats from the Conversations With a Cupcake blog:

Or how about S'mores cupcakes:
YUM!

HAVE A NICE LOOONG WEEKEND!

(photo credit:cookinginamerica.net,geocities.com, learning.ssis.edu.vn)

John Hughes, I'm lighting Sixteen Candles for you...

(a special ode to teen angst)

And remembering some of my favorites that you wrote, directed, or produced:

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Past and Present: Boys vs. Girls

At what point does the great divide take place between males and females? Well, apparently around age five. I never would have believed it myself before teaching for a couple of years and having kids myself that some of it was inate. I just thought it was mostly societal influence.




I mean, all through childhood they divided us up into boys and girls lines and activities; and steered us to separate boys and girl toys and colors, even. And yes this still goes on today, and I thought I've been pretty good at not making that distinction for my son. Because, who cares if he thinks pink and doll houses are cool?
Plus at almost any adult party I've been to, the men end up in one room, and the women end up in another. STRANGE, but true! :) And if the party has kids invited, whose "side" do you think the kids end up on? I dont think I even have to answer that question. It makes for horrible adult conversations and lots of chaos.



Just in the last couple of months or so, my son's been saying things like, "Barbie's are for girls" and refusing to go in the "girls" toy aisle at Target, instead running to the Leggos and Star Wars. I think to myself, where is he getting this from? Yet still, when playing with other girl pals one-on-one, he will do imaginative play with their Barbie's or dollhouses etc.


At a recent kid's party we were at, my son was following around a group of four female 5 or 6 year olds, asking if he could "come along". Here's what I overheard, as the spokesperson for the group said "No, go away, stop following us. No boys allowed. Besides, she doesn't like you because you popped her balloon..."


So what did my normally ultra-sensitive boy do when he heard this? Did he come crying to me? No. He just kept following them around, annoying them all the more.



And so it goes.....



(photo credit: rememberwhen.gazettelive.co.uk)