Bad From The Past: The Day My Kid Went Punk

I’m a child of the 80s, which means I spent the better half of the decade drinking my fair share of Tab, aspiring to grow up and be as cool as Jem (please tell me that some of you remember Jem and the Holograms and loved it as much as I do did) and, of course, tuning in to as many ABC After School Specials as I could. The acting was mediocre, but the topics were always a bit controversial - dyslexia (Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia), divorce (My Dad Lives in a Downtown Hotel), sexuality (Am I Gay?), teen pregnancy (Two Teens and a Baby) - and I was hooked.

But somewhere along the line, I must have missed this episode:

I wonder what the Nelsons did when their kid showed up at the breakfast table with a Mohawk, a studded bracelet and a new rock n’ roll attitude. This picture takes me back to when I was sixteen and dyed my hair purple, traded in my sneakers and button fly’s for steel-toed boots and fishnets, and plastered my room with Sex Pistols posters. My mother certainly didn’t love my sudden new style, but she never made me feel bad about my chosen forms of self-expression (my first tattoo, however? Another story entirely). Looking back, that’s something I really appreciate, and I hope I can handle myself similarly with my own children, when the time comes – because I’m sure it probably will.

What about you? What would your reaction be if your teenager made a sudden 'genre' change?

[source]

Comments

[Michelle]

OMG I loved Jem & the Holograms!!

[Kristin]

First thing first, Jem rocks! I actually have a couple dolls and a VHS tape. Okay, moving on. I was always a freak even in childhood but since my mom was a hippy (the values not the drugs) I was always encouraged to "be an individual." If I'd wanted to rebel I would have started asking for brandnames and joined cadets. As for my kid, my only concern would be if there was a really sudden and dramatic change of any kind. I would support their decision (so long as it didn't involve any harm to self or others) but I would want to know if there was anything else going on that spurred the sudden change.

[Neen]

I really love that the Dad is Doc from Love Boat!

My teenagers can wear their hair and dress any way they please. I had a Duran Duran haircut and dressed New Wave. And they've seen the pictures. I have no room to judge.
(They listen in the most part to 80's metal and dress that way anyway. Don't tell them, but I think it's really cute!)
As a side-note, my 16 year old was listening to "We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister one day when I walked through the dining room. I told him, "Hey! That song is about your Nanna and Poppa, if you're listening to it because I told you to get off the computer and do the dishes, cut it out!" He fell off his chair laughing.

[mamatulip]

Michelle, I still know the lyrics to the theme song!

Kristin - "If I'd wanted to rebel I would have started asking for brandnames and joined cadets." <-- yup, me too.

Neen - I'm impressed that you recognized the father in that picture! It took me a few minutes to figure it out (at first, I thought it was the father from ALF. Remember ALF?)

[Neen]

We saw a box set of ALF at BestBuy the other day. (I was replacing my box set of Firefly, long story.) My 17 year old said "We're not buying ALF." I said, "No, no were not, it wasn't actually that good."

Do you remeber what A.L.F. stood for?

[mamatulip]

My husband would have snapped that box set up in a heartbeat - he *LOVED* ALF. He'd be disappointed that I can't remember what ALF stands for.

I want to say it stands for Alien Life Form, but I don't think it's 'Form'. Alien Life something...I'm totally Googling it after this comment. Wasn't ALF's name Gordon Shumway, or something like that? (Am I even thinking of the right 80s sitcom?!)

[Neen]

Well, there you go, you know what to get him for his birthday! I'm pretty sure there were a couple of seasons, even!

Yup, it was alien life form, and you're right about his name too, I'd forgotten it until you said it. (typed it, whatev.. snort, I havn't said whatev... in 20 years!)