Being the mother of a female tween, I knew the odds of getting my daughter past the whole "boy band romance" thing were not in my favor. For a while it seemed we might just squeak by and then a guest at Cat's 10th birthday party last year changed everything. Meet the party guest...
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Happy February, friends!
Allow me to introduce you to Niall Horan, member of the wildly popular group "One Direction." (please excuse the lip prints on Niall...Cat and the party guests went a little bonkers when they saw him...) This should have been a red flag that Irish Dancer Girl was about to be swooning over the five fellas in the band, but I kept thinking my girl was far too smart to fall for all of that hype and marketing. I clearly was not prepared for the power of Directioners (yes, this is what they call themselves) and their love and devotion for these lads. Oh boy, she was swooning just looking at the poster. Fast forward to the dance part of the party. Big brother and friend have taken on the disc jockey duties and are dutifully playing 1D (One Direction) songs for the crowd...until "Kiss You" starts to play from the playlist. Then all dancing screeches to a halt....because the music has suddenly stopped and big brother is frantically trying to find another song. Why? Because there's no way those lyrics are going to be in his sister's head...EVER. I don't know about you, but you don't mess with a tween and her boy band. I will save the sordid details for another day, but let me assure you two teen disc jockeys are no match for a gaggle of angry tween Directioners.
As we approached late summer last year, Cat was still trying to convince me to share her love of her boy band....especially her love for Louis (the one in the middle up there)...she goes absolutely mad when Louis appears anywhere. I, on the other hand, can totally get why Taylor Swift wrote a song called "Trouble" about Harry Styles. (the one on the right up there...who would be my pick if I were a tween with his bad boy ways and all...did I just type that out loud? No worries, Cat...Harry is 20 years old so it's not totally creepy...) One fine afternoon, we make plans with friends to meet up for the 1D boys new movie called "This Is Us". I'm in my "you better appreciate how much I love you to sit through this nightmare" mood as we take our seats and settle in. Cat and her friend are decked out in their One Direction finery as are all the other girls (and some moms!) in the theater. Movie begins...and dare I say it? I am completely enthralled! I left that movie with a complete change of heart about those fellas! They are a hardworking group of young men who really understand that they employ an army of folks, love their families deeply, truly appreciate their fans...and they are HUMBLE. Well played, my adorable tween...well played. Honestly, I should have known that I was becoming a Directioner long before the movie though. I know every lyric to their songs and always win when Cat and I play the One Direction Trivia Game. (yes, I just admitted that...I have no shame...) I also went bonkers at Macys when I came upon "Our Moment" the perfume "created by One Direction for their fans. In my defense, I didn't know that's what it was when the perfume lady sprayed me down with it. I just thought it was a lovely fragrance for grown-ups until my daughter squealed with delight with she saw it. (I know...pathetic...especially since I really wanted to buy it for myself her....one of these days...it is a bit pricey...as in "grown up" pricey...)
I was thinking back to the boy bands of my youth (the 70's) and we had the Osmonds, the Partridge Family and the DeFranco Family...all sugary sweet types. My gal pals would swoon over Donny Osmond and David Cassidy. I was a little bit of a boy band rebel. I had a thing for Aerosmith and Queen. (Steven Tyler was totally my jam...I know, I was a weird kid..) I suffered through the 90's boy band era with my wicked step-daughter and the madness of N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys. I guess it's just a tween / early teen right of passage to get your boy band on:)
I'm pretty sure we still have a long way to go with these One Direction lads. This is what I walked in to find in this morning in tween girl's room. (hey, I'm happy that she made an attempt at making her bed before school...just a little weirded out that Louis -see poster and small heart pillow- found his way next to her pillow during the night. Don't remember seeing him there when I tucked her in.) And may I add that those sheets were requested by the tween because "they are sooo soft, not because they're 1D." (uh huh...sure....) So I have decided to embrace my inner tween and just join the ranks of Directioners in support of my wee girl. (probably for the best since Steven Tyler is now 66 years old...)
Happy February, friends!
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