What is with girls these days? And by these days, I mean since the dawn of time. I was doing some work around the house the other day when the phone rang. I didn’t even bother to attempt to answer it since my 11 year old daughter was in the house. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that the age of the phone planted to her ear has arrived in the house. I’m ok with that. Within 30 seconds of her phone conversation I hear her dishing about how so and so was online and talking trash about so and so. “She really said that. Can you believe that?” I hear. “I know I know right?” I hear.

 

Listening to this one sided conversation coming from my 11 year old had me disturbed.  I’m not sure if I was more disturbed by her ending every sentence with “I know, right” or by the nature of the call. It is becoming more and more apparent that my 11 year old is one of those girls. And by one of those girls, I mean the gossipy, all about appearance, totally superficial type of girl. One of those girls. I can’t stand it.

 

I have prided myself on being an open parent. I have prided myself on teaching both my son and girls the importance of empathy. The importance of humanity. That we are all of the same earth. That though we look different we are all unique and of value. Blah, blah, blah. And I have Cher from Clueless as my daughter. I don’t get it. What am I doing wrong?

 

As I listened to this conversation, aghast, I grabbed my cell phone. I cowered in my bathroom in my bedroom, otherwise known as the “safe place” and called my friend Cynthia to report that my daughter is one of those girls. In heated whisper so as not to be detected by infiltrators outside the locked bathroom door, I repeated the listened in on phone call. “She really said that! Can you believe that?” I whispered frantically to Cynthia. “I know I know right!” I was on the phone with Cynthia locked in my own bathroom for over an hour rehashing every detail of my daughter’s transgression. Believe me; the irony is not lost on me.

 

What is with us women? Why do we bond over trashing each other? Why can we not wait to share the first sordid detail of any bad news? As open as I am. As empathetic and humanitarian as I am, I am one of those girls. I’m not proud of this fact. I’m certainly not jumping for joy that I’ve created a monster in my own image.

 

But sad to say, I do have a lot of fun with my daughter. Walking the mall commenting on bad hair. Bad outfits. Bad manners. Reading magazines together. Commenting on the latest celeb gossip. Going to Starbucks for a chai tea, (she’s only 11, I’m not getting her hopped up on caffeine) and chattering about nothingness, fluff. I'm not saying it's right but I don't know that I'm saying it's wrong either.  We parents are typecast as the heavy. We have to be, it’s part of the job. I can do heavy. I nag, complain, critique and criticize with the best of them. But isn’t it important to bond as well? Isn’t it good for our souls to dish? I wish we women could get the same sense of community and connectedness from hashing out world peace. But let’s face it, we don’t. Or most of us don’t. If you are one who does, I bow down to you.

 

Maybe the best we can hope for is to mix in some good with the not so good. After all, isn’t that the point? To accept each other and ourselves for what we are? The good, the bad and the ugly?

 
   

 


 
 
angelfolife2006 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
I think honestly that all woman and girls of all ages do these things.  We all once in awhile talk about someone else and become those girls.  Its not a big deal.
jen022871 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Isn't it interesting how we all know "those girls".  We need nothing more than the label "those girls" and we all are on the same page.  We all know exactly what that means.  What does that say? 
angelfolife2006 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Well see this is the thing.  Half of the time I don't even realize when I am being one of those girls.  I always see the wrong that when other people are doing it and not always myself.  Its not right.  But that is the way it is!
k10 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
chai tea and coffee have abt the same amount of caffeine...just saying

and I LOVE being one of those girls!! it makes life so invigorating. sometimes words don't even need to be said...if someone says something stupid across the classroom, three girls who don't know each other can look at each other and laugh.  lol

my friend and i used to spend EVERY night on various areas of campus, every day had a different location...talking about people as they walked by.  it was AWESOME!!!
jen022871 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Oh no, you've only confirmed my suspicions, I am a horrible parent.  I thought chai tea was caffeine free!  Are you sure it's not? 

 

K10 I have to apologize to you.  Boy did I ever miss the boat on Jon Gosselin.  What a puke!  I take back every positive thing I ever said about the guy.  I'm normally a very good judge of character.  I missed it by a mile on that one. 

k10 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
no prob.  if u missed the first season, you wouldn't have known.  he got really good at "looking like the innocent person" after seeing how he looked in the episodes of the first season.  that's also when the theme message took out the "i didn't want any more kids" (in so many words) part.  how low can u be to date the daughter of the man who did your wife's plastic surgery pro bono? ugh, scum of the earth.  everyone should have known when he started wearing ed hardy that he was a douche!

you are not a bad parent, everyone deserves to indulge every once in a while.  my mom and bro started drinking coffee together when he was about 7...but then again, we did give him dimetapp to put him to sleep when he got to rambunctious...and now there is the adderrol for the adhd...i'm not making my case am i? lmao
jen022871 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
That's hilarious!  About your brother, not Jon Gosselin.  I wonder what Kate is thinking.   At least it's only helping her in the press.  He looks ridiculous.  How embarassing for him. 

 

 

k10 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
oh, and CRIME OF THE CENTURY...jon is working with Audigier to develop a children's line of ed hardy.  bc the next thing america needs is baby douchebags.

yes, my brother...he's something.  but coming from that household...we all are, lol.
Andreux on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
chai tea and coffee have abt the same amount of caffeine...just saying

THANK YOU FOR CONFIRMING THIS. I have wondered about that for ages now!

Anyway, I love Cher from Clueless! lol -- and I think I may be one of "them" too in a boy's body. There is nothing to be ashamed of. I enjoyed this entry =)
k10 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
no prob. 
monkeycookie on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
What are you doing wrong?
Do you really want to know?  I guess you do being that this is a public blog and you've asked.

I can plainly see what you're doing wrong. You are boldface lying to yourself. You are telling your daughter one thing and then doing another.

In one paragraph you say: I have prided myself on teaching both my son and girls the importance of empathy. The importance of humanity. That we are all of the same earth. That though we look different we are all unique and of value.

But in another paragraph you talk about how you dish on how bad people are dressed, how bad their hair looks and so on. That's totally going against what you said in the beginning. How can she respect your opinion of  "just" words when actions are much more memorable?

At first I was ready to be jealous of you and your daughter because I'm a teen that doesn't live with her mother and am quite glad because my mom is an elitist snob and wouldn't be caught dead in a mall. I've always wished my mom was more normal. But I've come to find that there is no such thing as normal and that adults not only double talk us kids and  blow smoke up our asses. You guys double talk yourselves and blow smoke up your own asses first.
jen022871 on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Oh Monkeycookie, you're right.  I did ask for it.  I appreciate you calling me out and I'm very sorry that you don't have a mother or a mother that you respect at any rate.  And you are very correct in saying that we adults double talk and "blow smoke up our own asses".  I can only say that as a parent most of us strive to do the best we can do.  But we all can do better. 
monkeycookie on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Don't be sorry, I'm glad I'm away from that person that constantly ridicules others. I am in a very happy home right now. When my ex-mom would talk about people who were dressed in ways she didn't approve of I was embarrassed to have a mom that did that.  But by my mom "not" teaching me those values it made me want to teach myself those values.

And you are right, some parents "are" striving to do their best and I know that parents are just people that make mistakes as all humans do.
myclette on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
Personally, I think as women we are conditioned to put each other down. It has been done for millenia.  I think it was the only way we could establish any type of dominance in a patriarchal society -- however it is self destructive!  For example, we complain about having to live up to the ideals of a perfect size 2, but we don't realize that 90 percent of the editors of fashion magazines are women! It's that whole crabs in the barrel mentality.
monkeycookie on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
yeah but would you do this with your daughter in a mall?
i could never see you doing something like this cocoa. i hope you are not this way.  W was telling me last night that women do it while watching television and flipping through mags and so, of course a child may pick that up. but to purposely have fun with an eleven year old by putting others down in a mall is ridiculous. i don't look at others and put them down. maybe it's because my mother used to do it.
myclette on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
I wouldn't do it. Usually when I comment on someone's outfit or something, it is from a movie and the outfit has to do with a the character and not the person herself.
monkeycookie on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
EXACTLY!

At least she was being honest on her blog but I got bothered by the whole: "...i teach my kids that looks don't matter" spiel and then blog about how she takes her daughter to the mall and makes fun of women.

I agree about the women that fall for that size 2 crap. First of all...I'd never, and second... a lot of those women editors starve to look that way themselves. I've never bought into that size 2 crap and would rather have a womanly body. I'm glad I'm not some retard wanna be stick figure trying to live up to magazine images.
myclette on
Re: The good, the bad and the ugly.
A good friend of mine is a size 2 and even she doesn't buy into that crap.  She told me that she appreciates when women look good at any size and are confident. That is pretty much how men feel, too. Sure, you have some shallow guys out there who only want to date supermodels, but the majority of men just want a cool, confident girl who likes herself.

 
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