by MIA FREEDMAN
There is so much angst about tween girls. In the media….among parents…. I am guilty of it myself. I angst about tweens a fair bit. I have for a while now but it’s made worse by the fact my daughter is hurtling towards her tweenage years at the speed of Miley Cyrus. Gah!
And gulp.
I’m always on the lookout for bits of age-appropriate pop culture. People or things she can be interested in that aren’t, well, Miley Cyrus (who may well be fine for a 16 year old but not a 6 year old). Or Bratz dolls. Or Pussycat dolls. Or anything involving pole dancing or skanky music videos (I’m sorry but is there a better word than ‘skanky’ because I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS).
The problem is – I love pop culture. And by nature or nurture or both, my kids love it too. With the amount of media I consume, it’s challenging to quarantine them from everything, as hard as I try.
So whenever I OCCASIONALLY stumble across a pop culture thing aimed at tweens or young girls, that I actually like – I want to share it. I felt this way about Bindi last year and it inspired me to write this post.
Well, HELLO Willow Smith.
Yes, Willow Smith. Daughter of Will and Jada. Pop singer. Whatever your views about child stars (sometimes they turn out OK = Beyonce and sometimes not = Lindsay), Willow Smith seems to be walking that very fine tween line. And she’s walking it beautifully.
I love this video. I love the message, the lyrics, the melody and the clip. I love what she’s wearing. I love that she doesn’t get changed 10 times in her video. I love that she’s not wearing a weave and that she seems happy and goofy and mischievous and a bit cheeky without being overtly precocious.
I just love it. In fact I’m going to play it to my 6 year old daughter.
More Willow – and not a midriff in sight:
It’s easy to diss the bad stuff but what have you seen around that is POSITIVE for young girls? Boys?
Top Comments
I think it must be very easy to be liked for " being yourself" when you are the daughter of universally liked and perennially cool Wil and Jada Pinkett Smith. In the real teenage world it is a difficult tightrope to walk.
I have a 14 year old son who manages to alienate himself at every turn, just one of those guys who does it wrong and it makes my heart break watching him. If he tries hard to fit in he gets teased and if he tries to be individual he gets teased even more. We have had the 'conforming' talk and we have had the ' being an individual but accepting that people don't always like the individual' talk. All I want is for him to be happy and prederably not picked on while he is at it. He is a genuine and sensitive kid and I think he is lovely and if I showed him the lovely Willows clip he would think she is great too. Unfortunately when he does go out wearing something a little different than the norm or asexual in nature he doesn't have the cool movie star parent to back his individuality up, he just has me a normal, boring Mum in my Doc Martins and occasional quirky outfits. Good for Willow I say, and good for Wil and Jada too I am more than a little jealous that their daughter is accepted so easily but proud that she encouraged to be herself. I only hope that my son can find that peace himself and know that his mum watches proudly if a little tearfully while he does it.
It's going to be hard for him to be like that at 14. Just tell him that his time will come, and he'll find his place. It's probably just going to be after high school. But tell him not to worry. Just stick with what he loves, and he'll find his place.
14 is a vile age, I wouldn't wish 14 or 15 on my worst enemy...and I'm watching my daughter try and deal with it too. In her case, she's almost pathologically shy, and dealing with an anxiety disorder...and trying to watch her cope socially with all that stuff breaks my heart.
I reassure myself with the idea that she's going to come out of this stronger and with a greater sense of herself and the world...and I think that same feeling I think applies to your son, too.
Totally loved it and inspired by it - and I'm 32!