I knew sending my kids off to school (if kindergarten and preschool qualifies as “sending them off”) would expose them to many other personalities, opinions, ideas and behavioral choices. I’m cool with that. In fact, I encourage it. It’s my job to guide them and to teach them to make the right choices even after what they are exposed to in the big scary world.
What I have really found interesting this school year are the changes I have seen in another little girl in the classroom next door. At the beginning of the school year I nicknamed the girl “Emo” – a reference to pouty wanna be punk rock teens of today.
Emo always seemed glum and not interested in socializing. She has parents who are different than most. Mom wears black exclusively and jewelry with skulls and snakes and such. Dad is an odd fellow, wears very random 80’s clothing, like checkerboard pants, and wears a knit yarmulke of sorts. He looks like he should be outside smoking clove cigarettes and playing hacky sack. At the beginning of the school year, Emo was dressed in very cute, albeit very “emo” outfits. Little plaid skirts with large safety pins with black tights and black boots, punk rock t-shirts, and dog collar looking jewelry. Even her little lunch pail was emo – a black Hello Kitty “Badtz-Maru” tin box. Not your every day Target finds.
