A recent conversation with my daughter went something like this:
ME: I quite like Rihanna's music.
DAUGHTER: WHY??????
ME: Er ... because it's good?
DAUGHTER: OH MY GOD I HATE YOU!!
ME: Oh what have I done now??
DAUGHTER: YOU CAN'T LIKE IT. IT'S NOT FOR OLD PEOPLE. WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE COOL!!!!!!
OK so two things here. One: there's some sort of age cut off point for musical tastes that I didn't know about so I'm guessing I shouldn't be listening to anything beyond Spandau Ballet or Wham. Two: I am mum. Not Carrie. Mum doesn't listen to hip trendy garage or R&B, or drink, or have sex (well that's another post). Nor does she swear like a navvie or dance uncontrollably through mind-enhancing drugs. In her eyes, I'm placed on this mortal coil to cook her food, wash her clothes, pick her up from here, there and everywhere, dish out the cash, clear up the mess and dry the tears. Beyond those tasks, I don't exist. Mention old boyfriends and 'that's disgusting'. Recount old antics I engaged in and that's just 'WRONG'. It seems I was born and married on the same day she was.
It's a shame in some ways. Carrie is quite good fun. Done some pretty crazy things over the years. Some funny, some worthy of a few columns in the Sun. So I guess she won't want to know about the time I got arrested in Spain for indecent behaviour, or the time I was physically removed from some fancy pants launch party by a burly bouncer for abusing the Radio 1 DJ. She'll miss the story of me being sick in the collection plate at Midnight Mass because I'd had too many sweet martinis and thrown out of the girl guides for 'being the exact opposite of everything they stand for'. And best she doesn't know about the time I was found in the PE teacher's wardrobe during a school ski trip.
Plus there was the incident on the West Ham team bus, the girls 5-a-side football match fight and that time I accidentally knocked that nice policeman's helmet off. I really did think he'd find it funny. And they're the ones I can remember.
On reflection? Maybe it's best she doesn't know all this. I would hate for her to think that this is normal behaviour or an imperative rite of passage. Best she only knows how good my chicken casserole is and how generous I am with pocket money rather than see me as a sort of rubbish 80's Jordan-esque role model.
I can only hope she doesn't read Frank McAvennie's biography!
ME: I quite like Rihanna's music.
DAUGHTER: WHY??????
ME: Er ... because it's good?
DAUGHTER: OH MY GOD I HATE YOU!!
ME: Oh what have I done now??
DAUGHTER: YOU CAN'T LIKE IT. IT'S NOT FOR OLD PEOPLE. WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE COOL!!!!!!
OK so two things here. One: there's some sort of age cut off point for musical tastes that I didn't know about so I'm guessing I shouldn't be listening to anything beyond Spandau Ballet or Wham. Two: I am mum. Not Carrie. Mum doesn't listen to hip trendy garage or R&B, or drink, or have sex (well that's another post). Nor does she swear like a navvie or dance uncontrollably through mind-enhancing drugs. In her eyes, I'm placed on this mortal coil to cook her food, wash her clothes, pick her up from here, there and everywhere, dish out the cash, clear up the mess and dry the tears. Beyond those tasks, I don't exist. Mention old boyfriends and 'that's disgusting'. Recount old antics I engaged in and that's just 'WRONG'. It seems I was born and married on the same day she was.
It's a shame in some ways. Carrie is quite good fun. Done some pretty crazy things over the years. Some funny, some worthy of a few columns in the Sun. So I guess she won't want to know about the time I got arrested in Spain for indecent behaviour, or the time I was physically removed from some fancy pants launch party by a burly bouncer for abusing the Radio 1 DJ. She'll miss the story of me being sick in the collection plate at Midnight Mass because I'd had too many sweet martinis and thrown out of the girl guides for 'being the exact opposite of everything they stand for'. And best she doesn't know about the time I was found in the PE teacher's wardrobe during a school ski trip.
Plus there was the incident on the West Ham team bus, the girls 5-a-side football match fight and that time I accidentally knocked that nice policeman's helmet off. I really did think he'd find it funny. And they're the ones I can remember.
On reflection? Maybe it's best she doesn't know all this. I would hate for her to think that this is normal behaviour or an imperative rite of passage. Best she only knows how good my chicken casserole is and how generous I am with pocket money rather than see me as a sort of rubbish 80's Jordan-esque role model.
I can only hope she doesn't read Frank McAvennie's biography!
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