June 26, 1985
Living in the same house with seven and eleven year old girls is a constant challenge. Just keeping up with the latest fad can put any mother off balance. In the last few years we have lived with the aroma of Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meringue dolls, pushed Care Bears with cupcakes, rainbow and four leaf clovers on their tummies in shopping cards, dressed My Little Ponies in various outfits and of course signed adoption papers for Cabbage Patch dolls with names like Aggie Jesslyn and Alberta Dodie.
Throughout this Barbie has somehow managed to reign from a townhouse in the basement and the art easel still occasionally produces pictures of cats, dogs and horses.
The ET and Beat It nightgowns are now faded and Dr. Scholls shoes can’t keep stride with velcro tennis shoes and jellies.
While there are still the old standbys like jacks, jumprope and hopscotch, the wading pool has been replaced by slip and slide and Pac Man and Donkie King have been pushed aside by Home Computers and VCR’s.
Some stickers are still being traded but jelly bracelets and dangling earrings are the big collector items.
We have danced to the beat of Michael Jackson and Prince but those records are collecting dust as Madonna sings about being a “Material Girl” and “Like a Virgin.”
My kids keep telling me I’m out of it, I guess maybe they do have a point. Anyone who is still trying to solve the Rubick’s Cube while everyone else in the house is playing Trivial Pursuit is definitely behind the times.
Some things do remain the same though. At my slumber parties when I was 10 there were the same giggles that can be heard late into the night when my daughters have a sleepover and there’s a mother’s voice saying “Now let’s settle down.”
CCW