While surfing the waves of Pinterest, I recently came across some eye makeup that reminded me of the 1980’s fictional singing sensation Jem.
My immediate conclusion was that I need to be Jem for Halloween (or any other event that encourages adults to dress up in costumes). I don’t typically get excited about costumes but the thought of being Jem makes me giddy with nostalgia.
In my quick decision that I needed to impersonate Jem, I also decided that my six-year-old daughter should be one of the Holograms, Synergy or even Pizzazz the lead Misfit. What could possibly be cooler than a posse of Jem and the Holograms going to door to door on Halloween? The answer is nothing.
Now, my daughter doesn’t have a sniff who Jem is, so we’ve embarked on an educational journey to enlighten her. It made me think about how fun it is to teach our kids about the pop culture we grew up with, and engage with them in it.
First off, I’m noticing that Jem and her boyfriend Rio make out in every song. So, I have to be pretty picky about the clips I let her watch because I’m not into six-year-olds being obsessed with boyfriends and girlfriends. I just want her to be little.
But, scrolling through images of Jem’s fashions is awesome. Playing around with face paint and hair chalk to pull off classic Jem looks is also awesome.
Both mine and my husband’s parents kept literally every childhood toy, so we love taking those out and teaching our kids about them. My brother has a ton of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters from the 1990s, we have so many 80’s Star Wars toys, and we’ve been having a blast going through our character colouring books from that time period.
Planning an old school video game night is also a fun idea as you can often download versions of the classic Atari and Nintendo Entertainment System games. It also means I can win once and a while, since I still can’t navigate through 3D game worlds. Running across a screen is my jam.
