Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Coolness vs Dorkiness

The bike helmet struggles have begun today. Abby is nearly 14. None of the neighbor kids wear them around the neighborhood. All my past words of wisdom fall on deaf ears "Only smart kids wear helmets and you look darn smart." " Who will win, you or the car?" "I'll take Wednesday's". She no longer believes. She only notices she sticks out in the crowd and she hates it. Her neighborhood friends were all riding their bikes to the park. Her choice was to just walk or not go. Period. When I told her that we had enough helmets for all the kids, I could see the panic of uncoolness in her eyes. I finally took a deep breath and told her to have fun, just be extra careful. Larry told Abby that he guessed she & her friends can all be dumb together. How did we manage to grow up without them? I guess we will save our helmets for when we go on dorky family rides... then she will blend in with the crowd :)
-Brenda
I took a picture of Abby & Miranda with helmets to show them how cool they looked... they didn't seem to agree

4 comments:

Kat said...

I think they do look cool, and smart, and beautiful. Who are those two fabulous looking chickies? Oh, I know. It's Miranda and Abby - being cool, smart, and beautiful. Positive reinforcement, think it will work?

Birrell Family said...

We as parents often don't count in our opinions of coolness when they reach this age, but it comes back around when they get a little older, or they need something... whichever comes first, generally the latter :)

Becky said...

Good decision mom. Fitting in is extra important at this age...not to say that safety isn't. Part of being a wise parent is knowing when to say yes and when to say no. You're an expert by now!! both girls are beautiful...with helmets and without!

Birrell Family said...

I don't want her to have emotional helmet scars for the rest of her life... of ccourse if she runs into a car, I will feel totally different