newspaper editorial
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AROUND SEPTEMBER 2007

We’re expensive, arrogant, and oblivious to the real world. We like to watch shows that are overly dramatic and plain ridiculous. We shop at the stores that everyone else our age does and always feel better after treating ourselves. We are the average teenagers –both my mother and I.

I don’t think that there was a moment when it hit me that my mother was very tuned to what was “in.” I had noticed things over time, but never really thought about how my mom acted. She had watched “American Idol” religiously (and not just the try-outs like I did), started wearing jeans, and shopped at the same stores I did. It wasn't like my mother was trying to be me; she just ended up liking teen-oriented stuff. No big deal; hey, it even benefited me in some ways —but then it started to get annoying.

It’s irritating for someone more than twice your age tell you what she thinks you should know, but don’t actually care about. Honestly, I could care less about who wins “American Idol.” I’m just another viewer who likes to laugh at horrible contestants during tryouts…but there were those moments when my mother would tell me anything and everything that had to do with the latest episode. Who got kicked off, how she couldn’t wait for the next episode, and who she wanted to win…I think that was when I resented the younger side of my mother. I finally understood what my father meant when he’d exclaim, “You are just like a teenager now! Watching all the junk shows!” It was true —my mother was just like me and that show really is full of it.

Then I had a revelation about half a year after introducing my mom to jeans. I was watching TV and the Kellogg’s Special K commercial appeared. A quick rundown: a mother and daughter discover a pair of old jeans from the mother’s past and the daughter takes them. While she is wearing them in a couple of scenes, the mother sits in the kitchen, eating cereal. She supposedly loses weight and asks for them back so she could wear them. I was scared out of my mind. Not only is there is no jean on Earth that should be worn again after several centuries, but the mother and daughter were sharing clothes.

I understood several things from that commercial: Mothers these days have an apron in one hand, a job in the other, and a Vogue in their laps, and I was going to have to accept that my mom was no exception.

I realized that my mother was still a woman and not some old lady in charge of bossing me around. She had every right to have a guilty pleasure or two. Just because she shopped at the same places I did it didn’t mean she wore the same sizes or dress like a hoochie. I also knew I brought this upon myself by introducing her to the miracle pants (jeans) and convincing her to walk into Hot Topic (or as she called it, hell).

These days’ parents are becoming more unorthodox —shopping with us, listening to the same radio stations, and bonding as if we are on an equal level. The fact is, we aren’t. I think it’s important to get along with your parents, but I don’t think they should get off their high and mighty pedestals. It’s tough love, baby, and I don’t think it should be any other way.