Parenting and Family Life: October 2005 Archives

Myth of The Teenager

There were no "teenagers" before World War II. Ask those still living who raised their children before then. Or spend a rainy Saturday in the basement of your library, comparing old Life magazines from before the War and after.1

Instead of Teenagers, there were Youths. Youths were young people who wanted to become adults. However confused, wayward, or silly they acted, however many mistakes they made, they looked to the future. They knew that adult life was different than a child's life. They planned to grow up, leave childhood behind, and become adults. They were aware that life is more than youth.

The Teenager has no such horizon. Beyond the "Teeny" world there is no adult life, no past with heroes, no future with goals.

Dale Price hates Bratz.

Pansy and Peony hate Bratz. Even Rosey-Posey hates Bratz.

In the interest of, let's say, marketing research, what precisely do we hate about them? There are so many reasons, I know. Let's list 'em all: the skanky clothes, the marketing to little girls, the whole it's-all-about-the-mall concept....

But, you know, even if the Bratz underwent total makeovers of their soulz -- ditched their vinyl-headed boyfriendz, wore modest clothing, joined their school's chapter of the Junior Engineering and Technical Society, started a chapter of Little Flowerz at their church and washed cars to pay their way to the next World Youth Day, and dropped the annoying habit of using "z" for "s" -- even if they did all that, I still wouldn't like them. The giant eyes, enormous lips, teeny bodies and big feet... they're just ugly dolls.