Mob Deep
And I don't mean the rap group. I'm talking about Princess A's clique.
The hubster and I let her host her 13th birthday party at the house, over the weekend, and nearly 60 kids invaded the palace. Yes, I said 60!
My mom said, "Well are you sure she knew everyone? Were there a lot of friends of friends?"
Uhhh...no. 1 I knew she knew everyone because I had her hand out wristbands, so we could easily identify every kid as a welcome party goer vs. a crasher. 2 She greeted everyone as if they were her best friend. 3 Everyone there seemed to know everyone there. I.E. they're an extended clique.
Not saying they're all BFFs, but based on watching them throughout the night, it was clear that they were tight enough that hanging out on a Friday night was as natural as them all sitting in the lunch room together.
So I've come to realize - Myspace, AIM and chat rooms have changed the way teens make friends. Or maybe, it's simply changed the way friendships progress.
Back in the stone ages of my teen years, we had the telephone. And unless your parents were the uber progessive type to have a three-way calling, you were ::gasp:: only going to be talking to one person at a time!
Oh, the horror!
That meant you probably had five or six tight friends (I did) and then another 5-10 that was a part of your extended circle (close friends). Come party time, in middle school I may have known a total of 20 kids (close friends) to invite. That doubled, maybe tripled in high school - but even still, they weren't 40-60 kids I just HAD to have come or my life was over.
According to my daughter, her guest list could be no less than 60 because all of these were her "close" friends.
Sixty close friends?!
But it's because at any given day Princess A is on Myspace leaving comments on several people's pages, while IM'ing with five other people at the same time and talking to another three on the phone. They're constantly connected to one another in groups.
It's quite an amazing thing to see that virtual friendship circle come to life.
As a parent, you want your kid hanging out with a "good bunch" of kids. And since they're different outside of your eyesight, you never really know which ones are really okay and which ones are just sneaky as hell.
But, these kids were respectful (only one make-out break out session and my house not only survived but had very little trash as evidence of a party), not a bit unruly (considering how many, that was nothing short of a miracle), and very much content to flow from circle to circle all night, talking, dancing and being teens.
I'd definitely label them a "good bunch."
So we survived the bash of '07 and I've come to respect that the internet is not always necessarily isolating us from one another, as the news reports continue to blare. Friday night proved to me that, while we may spend a good deal of time talking via email, IM and text - in many cases it serves to make us feel closer to those we exchange conversation with, not further away.
The hubster and I let her host her 13th birthday party at the house, over the weekend, and nearly 60 kids invaded the palace. Yes, I said 60!
My mom said, "Well are you sure she knew everyone? Were there a lot of friends of friends?"
Uhhh...no. 1 I knew she knew everyone because I had her hand out wristbands, so we could easily identify every kid as a welcome party goer vs. a crasher. 2 She greeted everyone as if they were her best friend. 3 Everyone there seemed to know everyone there. I.E. they're an extended clique.
Not saying they're all BFFs, but based on watching them throughout the night, it was clear that they were tight enough that hanging out on a Friday night was as natural as them all sitting in the lunch room together.
So I've come to realize - Myspace, AIM and chat rooms have changed the way teens make friends. Or maybe, it's simply changed the way friendships progress.
Back in the stone ages of my teen years, we had the telephone. And unless your parents were the uber progessive type to have a three-way calling, you were ::gasp:: only going to be talking to one person at a time!
Oh, the horror!
That meant you probably had five or six tight friends (I did) and then another 5-10 that was a part of your extended circle (close friends). Come party time, in middle school I may have known a total of 20 kids (close friends) to invite. That doubled, maybe tripled in high school - but even still, they weren't 40-60 kids I just HAD to have come or my life was over.
According to my daughter, her guest list could be no less than 60 because all of these were her "close" friends.
Sixty close friends?!
But it's because at any given day Princess A is on Myspace leaving comments on several people's pages, while IM'ing with five other people at the same time and talking to another three on the phone. They're constantly connected to one another in groups.
It's quite an amazing thing to see that virtual friendship circle come to life.
As a parent, you want your kid hanging out with a "good bunch" of kids. And since they're different outside of your eyesight, you never really know which ones are really okay and which ones are just sneaky as hell.
But, these kids were respectful (only one make-out break out session and my house not only survived but had very little trash as evidence of a party), not a bit unruly (considering how many, that was nothing short of a miracle), and very much content to flow from circle to circle all night, talking, dancing and being teens.
I'd definitely label them a "good bunch."
So we survived the bash of '07 and I've come to respect that the internet is not always necessarily isolating us from one another, as the news reports continue to blare. Friday night proved to me that, while we may spend a good deal of time talking via email, IM and text - in many cases it serves to make us feel closer to those we exchange conversation with, not further away.
posted by Paula at 2:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home