Things I'm Learning At The Bus Stop

Ever since the Little One started kindergarten, I've been waiting with him at the bus stop (and will continue to do so until I'm booted out.) It has been quite an educational experience. Here are just a few of the things I've learned so far. (Keep in mind the kids at the bus stop are all in elementary school and aren't older than 10 years old.)

• Little girls today have extensive wardrobes. The Little One has been in school for about two months now, and I've seen most of the outfits the little girls have worn to school. I've noticed there have been very few repeats. On the other hand, the moms (me included) seem to have 5 basic outfits we wear daily—jeans/sweats on the bottom and about 5 shirts rotated each week. What's up with that? Shouldn't the grown-ups have more extensive wardrobes? One of the reasons I've noticed the girl's wardrobes is because...
  

• Little girls today dress like mini-sluts and/or Hollywood starlets. I'm stunned by some of the outfits these little girls are wearing—sparkly tight tops, very short skirts, Ugg boots with shorts, poofy short skits with sequins, boots with high stacked heels. I would have never been allowed to wear these kinds of clothes when I was in 2nd grade, but it seems to be the norm nowadays. (Either that or I'm totally getting old and it can't possibly be that, right?)

Bratz Dolls Or The Little Girls At The Bus Stop?
It is hard to tell the difference!

• Bakugan Battle Brawlers is incomprehensible to anyone above the age of 7. Have you heard about Bakugan Battle Brawlers? This "game" consists of some cards and some balls that can pop open when they are on special cards. It is all the rage with the little boys at the bus stop, but I cannot figure it out to save my life—even after suffering through one of the cartoon shows. There are dragons involved, and some complicated scoring system but it makes no sense to me at all. The other mothers were just as lost and clueless as I was. The kid who is most obsessed with them (I call him "Bakugan Boy"—not to his face of course, in my head) tries to explain it to me every morning but it just sounds like "And this guy is fire and he has blah blah blah 60 points blah blah gate card blah blah blah." All I really know is that if you have a Bakugan-obsessed kid in your life, the rage for the holiday season is the new 7 in 1 Dragonoid!
  

Bakugan Battle Brawlers

I defy you to explain this coherently to an adult!

• Second grade isn't too early to adopt a "too cool for school" attitude. There are a few kids at the bus stop who I know for a fact are only in second grade. To me, this is still an age of youth and innocence. However, these kids come off like high school punks characterized by sullen silence, long hair covering their eyes, and raggy clothes. If they weren't so small, I would be intimidated by them. When it is raining out, they are "too cool" to have umbrellas or raincoats or to even put their sweatshirt hood up. And even if the bus is there and they aren't at the bus stop already, they don't run ... they shuffle, slowly. With their heads down.

As I wrote this post, I realize I'm having a bit of culture shock here. I feel like Cranky Old Lady Jenners, complaining about "Kids today...pshaw. They weren't like that in my day." I'm used to what life was like when I was in grade school (which seems like another age altogether). Kids today seem so different and more sophisticated (but not in a totally good way). It kind of scares me and makes me sad. But I guess I need to "get with it" and realize that this is (for better or worse) the world that the Little One is growing up in.

Of course, this is from the mother whose last blog post was making up goofy porn titles like "Titty Titty Gang Bang" so what am I yammering on about?