Sunday, February 5, 2017

I Don't Understand My Tween Daughter's Birthday List





My daughter has a birthday coming up and she handed me a birthday list. Here's what was on it:


1. Squishies


2. JoJos Bows


3. Anything kawaii


4. LOL Dolls



I peered at the list in confusion. I felt like I was trying to read swahili, but failing. Nothing made sense.

But wait! I knew what a LOL Doll was at least. Natalie had bought one over Christmas break, much to my confusion. She had freaked out at the display and shrieked, "It's a LOL Doll!" and I was basically like:




If you're curious, a LOL doll is this ball with different layers to it. In the center is the doll.



Here's a video we did of Natalie opening one:





I stared at Natalie's list again. I missed the lists she had when she was younger because it said things like this:


1. Barbies

2. Anything Disney Princess

3. Dolls

4. Doll clothes


I knew immediately what everything was. Now? Now I was baffled.

"Natalie," I asked. "When you say 'anything kawaii' what exactly makes things kawaii?"

She looked at me like this:



"You know. My KAWAII stuff!" she impatiently explained.

Um. Great help, kid. I knew she had toys she described as kawaii. I knew kawaii meant cute in Japanese. But did that mean anything cute was kawaii?

"So is ANYTHING cute, kawaii? Like any stuffed animal?" I inquired.

Natalie scowled. "Kawaii is KAWAII!"

"Okay," I said slowly although I was still lost. "What exactly are squishies?"

"Tiny things you can squish," Natalie replied.

"I..."

"It's all about the squishies."

"It is?"

I did a Google search and for the record, these are squishies:





Finally I went, "And JoJo's Bows? Who is this JoJo? Like JoJo's circus? Is that back? Your brother used to watch it when he was tiny."

Natalie gave me a look like this:




"JOJO SIWA!" she shouted as if I was supposed to know who that was.

"JoJo. Siwa," Natalie repeated, because saying it a second time was supposed to make my brain compute. It didn't.

"From Dance Moms!" Natalie snapped.

Oh. Right. I do watch that show. "She was the one who quit?"

Natalie was offended. "She didn't QUIT. She had enough of Abby!" I half expected her to snap her fingers in my face.

"She has bows now?" I wrinkled my nose.

"Yes. Remember? She always wore bows!"

I vaguely remembered the bows.

"They're at Claire's," Natalie said as if speaking with a complete imbecile. "In a variety of colors."

"But if I can't find JoJo's bows would you just take a normal bow and CALL it a JoJo's Bow? Could you really tell the difference?"

Natalie's jaw dropped open. "Of course I could!"

Great. Lovely.

I'm still not exactly sure what is on my daughter's birthday list. I'll try my best to find what she's asking for.

But I really REALLY miss the good old days where I understood exactly what she wanted.

Wish me luck.

67 comments:

  1. This is the best mom post ever. I have had this moment so many times with my girls, but right now I'm thankful they're interested in things I'm familiar with. My youngest is wild about Pokemon right now ... I'm still waiting for one of them to fall in love with Pogs.

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  2. Hilarious, once again I am tickled. Waiting for her to find the doll was something else. :-) You are a great Mom I love her list and her facial responses. And of course her explanations. Good luck with the list.

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  3. Reading me reminds me of a conversation with my mom. Guess we can blame this to generation gap and I must say kids now a days are saying things beyond our vocabulary hahahah! good thing there's google to help us out.


    http://www.traveleatpinas.com/

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  4. Oh my. Girls are so tough!! And it only gets worse! Lol

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  5. Lolzzz how are you so good at this??? Love the way you express yourself. Your blogs makes me smile :)

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  6. Haha, that looks like a foreign language. I wouldn't know my squishes from my jo jo bows.

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  7. Omgosh I would have struggled as well! That second list you mentioned (her older list), I know every toy on that one. I've never heard of the toys on her current list! I wonder where kids find some of this stuff. Seems like you handled it like a boss though :)

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  8. AHAHAHA This is too funny! I have no idea what anything on that list is other then kawaii stuff, guess it helps having Japanese heritage... HAHA Good luck!!

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  9. So adorable! I can only imagine how much trouble I put my mom through when it seemed like I was speaking that tween language. Ahhh, the good old days!

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  10. LOL. I feel like my kids wouldn't do this to me, but then again maybe they would!

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  11. Well your a better mom now for being informed. Your almost hip and up to date until next week!

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  12. I love the way that you compared her birthday wish list to her younger self. Things she have changed! She's so adorable! Good luck with the birthday gifts!

    Beth || www.TheStyleBouquet.com

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  13. I have boys and have that problem too. Mine want Legos but they want certain sets.

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  14. Gotta love the tween language!! :) Love the list.

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  15. Hahaha too funny!!!! I wouldn't have had a clue what any of that ment either lol

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  16. LOL, this is totally awesome! Natalie is hilarious but I must say I would probably look at the whole list with even bigger confusion, and what's this Kawaii and squishy things all about :D

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  17. LOL where do kids come up with this stuff or find these toys? At least its harmless. Too cute and funny!

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  18. hahaha oh my gosh I think I have had this exact conversation with my daughter. It HAS TO BE kawaii!! Everything was ponies last year so this year for her birthday I thought ok ponies. Oh no, not this year. Ponies are lame mom. Nobody likes ponies. Now it's Markiplier and Melanie Martinez and yes kawaii squishee everything lol

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  19. Oh my gosh, I am not looking forward to the day that my son hands me a list like that. I would be so confused, even after they described or showed me what they wanted.
    I feel so old saying this, but, 'Kids these days.'

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  20. This is so funny, your daughter is seriously the cutest little thing! I can understand her birthday list with the barbies and stuff... but that one she just gave you...? I have no idea...hahah

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  21. This looks like an interesting wish list, I haven't heard of most of them :p

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  22. Whoa, I pride myself on knowing all the things that kids are into. As a teacher, I feel like it's RESEARCH for my job! But I haven't heard of any of these things either!

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  23. Hahaha she is so funny! Children think that we know everything but it is not true. Buy her what she wants and she will be really happy!

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  24. LOL! I have no idea what any of those are! What is kawaii? "Anything Kawaii" This makes me think Hawaii. Does she want a holiday? is it a Hawaiian souvenir?

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  25. There is a lot of kids terminology nowadays that we don't know. It is like they were the only one who knows it but they expect us to know it too or we will be accused as a Killjoy. lol But that is what I most liked about kids, of how they can be very happy even in small things.

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  26. She's too funny! I chuckled so hard reading this. I am just as confused as you are reading the list.

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  27. Oh my gosh, this is hilarious! My daughter is only 6. I dread the days when she gets into her tween years and I no longer understand her!

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  28. I guess a trip to Harajuku, Japan will be like Disneyland for your tween lady :) She will love it!

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  29. I could go for some squishies myself. Your daughter is so funny. I'm sure she'll have a great birthday.

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  30. Haha! She's such an adorable little girl. To help you a little bit, anything kawaii means anything cute. That's what they call cute in Japanese.

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  31. Haha! This is so funny! I have never heard of these too. My son's Bday is in March so I can't wait to see his list. 😁

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  32. Your daughter is one cute girl! That's such a fun list! She has a weakness for cute things, like my girls!

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  33. I have a tween so I kinda understood what were written on the list :D Kids these days hahaha

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  34. I've never heard of those toys either. Then again toys that were popular when I was a kid are not anymore either. I talked about POGS in one of my recent videos and imagine people were like "what?"

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  35. ahhaha you make me laugh! I don't have kids but i think i have the same problem :-)

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  36. Oh! That's the LOL Doll, my daughter really wanted LOL doll too, I've never thought that KAWAII means cute haha your daughter known a lot than you think.

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  37. I wouldnt be able to have understood that list either. I hope that she has a great birthday though!

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  38. This is hilarious! And I love how she just expects you to know all this stuff. I'm sure I was like this at one point with my mom.

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  39. Absolutely hilarious! I think this is where I'm supposed to say I'm glad I have a boy, but you should have seen his Christmas list. Blue dice, emoji pillows...I too miss the day when their lists were made of things from good old Mattel and Hasbro, found in every toy aisle!

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  40. Unfortunately, I don't have a daughter. Based on what I'm reading, I can clearly see you are good mother. This is funny and it contains a lot of expectations on your part as a mother. Good luck

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  41. I have three girls - one is in her tweens and we often have conversations like this. The mood swings kill me the most. But there are a lot of great moments that make it worth it.

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  42. With so may new toys out in the market, who can keep up :) My children are older so I at this time don't have this problem until I start to have grandkids.

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  43. hahahaha - My goodness I couldn't have laughed hard enough. I could hear myself through your words! to be honest, I have No clue what anything on her list is. even after you've tried your mummy best to understand and translate to us - I'm still lost! oh the joys of motherhood.
    By far the best post I've read in a while! Thanks for sharing.

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  44. I'm not looking forward to this stage when my girls will be like this. I do what I can to keep up now and they are only 4 and 2, lol! I'm sure it's going to get much worse. Those LOL Dolls look like Polly Pocket to me? Good luck in your search. I would say, be sure to utilize Amazon well!

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  45. This sounds like a great birthday list! Children grow up so fast sometimes what they say feels foreign. I really enjoyed reading this post. I would love to get anything kawaii for Valentine's Day.

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  46. Your posts are so funny. I look at my 7 year old the same way when she's talking about Pokemon. She will go on for hours about the different Pokemon and what they do what their names are, their evolved forms. LoL I'm like uh huh......

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  47. I'm going to feel the exact same way as you in a few years...

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  48. That's hilarious! If it helps, I only know #3 because I used to study Japanese language and culture. So I'll be prepared when Scarlet is a tween!

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  49. Haha I love your posts, they always make me laugh! My sister used to give me a similar list for her Christmas presents. I would always look at them and then spend an extra half an hour at the shops trying to decipher the list haha

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  50. This is so funny! I live the same thing with my daughter. We Google it together LOL

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  51. We just opened the LOL dolls ! The craze with all these BLIND bags !

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  52. I appreciate the difficulty finding something for my tween daughter more than I would like to admit. Gone are the days of the easy list. Although I think it's harder for her to choose what she wants as well.

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  53. This is really funny! And the word Kawaii made me search at Google for the meaning of it.

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  54. Omg this just made my day. I feel the same way with my young cousins because I have no clue as to what they're into. So finding them a gift definitely leaves me all kinds of confused.

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  55. Funny what names they call these toys now but still so funny and I get why they like it! :)

    KatrinaJeanCarter.wordpress.com

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  56. I'm glad I'm through all that. All they really want now is cash.

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  57. Haha I will be experiencing this in a few years I hope! Every generation definitely has specific things they love :)

    http://lovekimber.com/

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  58. It can be hard not knowing what they want. MY boys are the same way, it's hard to shop for them.

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  59. This is hilarious. What I found most funny is that I immediately knew what Jo Jo's bows were... ! HA. But the rest, omg, good luck.

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  60. This is funny! My younger sister used to love kawaii stuff. She actually had the same reaction as your daughter when I asked her what it is. I wish you can find everything in her birthday list. Best of luck!

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  61. I've commented on this before, but I had to comment again. I love your style of writing and it always makes me laugh! This is so relatable to so many parents as well. What are these toys and where are they from!!

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  62. The SJP face doesn't change when they're teens. Squishies are all the rage.:) I have to admit lately it has been more about books for my teen. :)

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  63. Kids are becoming genius in using new words that only fellow kids will understand :)

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  64. I'm not sure if this helps, but have you heard of YumeTwins? You can get Kawaii stuff from them, and they ship for free worldwide! https://yumetwins.com/ Happy Birthday to your little lady too :)

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  65. HAHAHA!!! I totally understand, I feel that way about my son when he starts telling me about mario and super heros! Too funny.

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  66. I looks to me like she loves adorable Japanese things! Maybe you guys will have the opportunity to visit there in the future. She will love all the cute things that they have.

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  67. I gave up on trying to understand my niece's 13 year-old world. I swear we don't even speak the same language at times. I have to admit...I think I'd like some of those squishies myself though.

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