Jumping the shark
It really didn’t take that long. Five short years in fact. Well, maybe more like two. When our daughter turned three, she started to get the notion of “cool”. And we were IT. Yesterday morning we (well, ok, my husband first) officially “jumped the shark”. In suggesting that our daughter put on a hat because it was “funky” (his words) our daughter rolled her eyes suggesting that he was way, way, WAY off the mark. In jest, I asked if Daddy was cool. She looked conflicted (not my intention) and then said truthfully: “no…not really”. OUCH.
We’d had a conversation a couple of nights ago whether we thought we were ever “hip” or not (we agreed that we never were), but to not be cool in the eyes of our five-year-old…harsh stuff! We figured we had at least until she was 10 to revel in some modicum of coolness.
So…onward. Now that we don’t need to worry about being “cool” anymore as we’ve been granted a certain liberation. We don’t need to worry about WHETHER we’re going to embarrass her or not…because it is now a qualified, bona fide certainty that we WILL. It is the legacy of parenthood that very few can evade. We can now focus on making sure our daughter’s tended to, well-fed, well-slept and not running with scissors.
I did a wholly (read: not at all) scientific survey of Facebook Friends. Seventy-three per cent thought that being cool was less important than the other “un-fun” aspects of parenting. Our dear friend Raahool wrote: “This is a recipe for disaster because at some point your kids will be forced to think that you are not [cool] and then you will be forced to over-extend your coolness, which in and of itself is not cool and will lead to scenarios like showing your kids’ friends how you can dance which will seal your uncoolness.”
This is additional relief for Greg and me..again, we’re not really cool (and we dance like no one’s watching…which they are). When it came to being cool, we were faking it (badly).
We’ll not be hiking our pants up to the armpits any time soon, but this does give us room to not bother worrying about sweating the cool stuff. Bottom line: be who you are. Be authentic. Because, let’s face it, trying too hard is simply too hard. And sweating just isn't cool. Just ask the Fonz...pre-shark jump, that is.
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