Tag: 90's

  • The Kid has Learned Well

    Last week, I mentioned that the kid was off from school for her “Mid-Winter Break.” I do not know of a single parent in the City that finds this “break” enjoyable. It is a week of scrambling to find things for the kid to do, so she doesn’t sit in front of a screen the whole time. I think I did an okay job last week. She surely didn’t have less screen time, but she didn’t have more.

    I mean, I’m not an idiot here. I do understand that I am receiving a wonderful gift, which is getting to spend time with my kid, at an age where she still likes and respects me. (The clock is ticking until that goes away…) She is forming her own opinions on music, and movies, and books she wants to read. She is just now taking the first steps in trying to figure out the world around her, and where she fits in. Being a witness to that is a great fringe benefit of being a parent.

    The kid did pepper me with lots of questions last week about growing up in Texas during the 90’s, in the suburbs, where it was warm or hot all the time. Describing growing up outside of Dallas is a fascinating and odd tale that my daughter, with her urban New York City upbringing, has a hard time wrapping her head around. Of all the things I have told her, she finds it amazing that the D/FW area will totally shut down at the first sight of snow; Not a blizzard, or sub-freezing temperatures, but just the tiniest of snowflakes falling would wreck North Texas.

    I think my story telling had an effect on her, as this morning, when getting ready for school, she told me she wanted to dress like a “90’s kid.” I was puzzled, so I asked her what a “90’s kid” looks like? I was told “90’s kids” wear; light blue jeans, All-Star shoes, baggy long sleeve tee-shirts, and listen to cd’s.

    She wasn’t wrong.

    And I also find it rather amazing that my daughter so succinctly summed up a very formative decade of my life. The only way she could have been more on the money is if she wanted a pack of clove cigarettes and a beat-up paperback copy of Naked Lunch to read.

  • Watching the Grammys with My Kid

    It was a changing of the guard last night. The old was replaced with the new, officially. Yes, while watching the Grammys last night with my eight-year-old daughter, she took the time to explain to me who these artist are, and what songs they were playing. I didn’t let her know that I knew who the artists were, and I had most of their songs on several of my playlists, but that didn’t matter. In our house, the kid became the ambassador of what is cool and hip in music, while the wife and I were relegated to the back bench of the current culture.

    Watching the Grammys is my wife’s thing. Always has been, always will be. She does have a better ear than I when it comes to new music. If it were up to me, I probably wouldn’t listen to anything that came out after 2006. But, I have her in my life, so I am made aware, often, of things I need to listen to. Maybe, with my preference for “older” music, that is the reason why my daughter took it upon herself to help inform me of what was happening last night on the telecast.

    The cycle is now complete. I went from the student, to the master, and now I am back to the student. My older brothers were the gatekeepers in our house of what was, and was not good music; My oldest brother with his hair metal, and my other brother, the middle child, defending new wave. From this, I became the defender of rock and grunge, explaining to my parents who these people were on the Grammys in the 90’s. Now, my child has taken the mantel from me. I have much to learn, according to her. The truth is that I value moments like the one that happened last night. My daughter is starting to assert herself, creating her own opinions, and defending her choices. Right now, this is a friendly, fun and learning exercise between us. There is always a chance that in her teenaged years, this could take on a more confrontational aspect, which is why I make a point of not making fun of the artist and songs she thinks are important. I want her to know that she can voice her opinions to me, and she will know that I might not agree with it, but I will respect it.