Pop quiz:  Raise your hand if you remember this movie?

OK, I am in NO WAY endorsing this movie because #1 what entertains you when you're 15, will offend you when you're..well, quite a bit older, #2 I wouldn't want my kids to see this movie...ever...because a lot of the themes and language are terrible and #3 even despite the themes and language, it's just not that great of a movie.  There's a reason that we don't see much of Molly Ringwold and Judd Nelson anymore.

However, there is one theme, the pervading theme as a matter of fact, that is good.  In the midst of all the other 80s Brat Pack movies that actually seemed to promote stereotypes and cliques, this one actually demoralized them.  The film takes all the high school stereotypes:  the jock, the brainy nerd, the rich princess, the freak and the rebel, and mixes them altogether in an all-day Saturday detention where they find out they are not really who they thought they were behind their carefully built facades.

I'm writing this entry to let you know we didn't need The Breakfast Club to tell us this, did we?  I think not.  Nowadays, we can get this info from the much cleaner High School Musical.  Or we can just take cues from our own kids...

I have two very highly genderized (yes, I just made up that word, I think) kids, meaning I have an ultra-girly girl and all-boy boy.  Yet even they, completely uninfluenced from the public school scene, make choices and have preferences outside of what you might think would be their comfort zones.

Carefully, examine specimen #1:

Beautiful.  Serene.  Graceful.  Feminine.  Quiet.

Same girl.  Even dressed in the same color.  Yet totally different demeanor.  She's totally scary here.

OK, now for specimen #2:

This is obviously a very mean dude.  I mean, look...!  He has every sharp-pointed plastic weapon know to man strapped to his being.  Yet...

The very same mean dude doing a latchhook rug while surrounded by his favorite stuffed animals.  The first picture makes me want to run and hide, and the second makes me want to go brew a cup of Darjeeling tea.  Interesting.

So, I encourage you to dig deep.  Find the inner you.  Embrace your idiosyncrasies. Learn to knit, even if you've always been afraid of large needles. Take a public speaking course, even if just the thought makes you want to throw up. Sign up for karate....unless you're me.  And always, ALWAYS choose High School Musical over The Breakfast Club.

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Posted by Lori

Ha. I was the nerd from the 80s who actually never watched it... but I could have told you everything you just said, so I guess I didn't miss much. I did think Molly had amazing skin, though...and I thought her movie about having a baby as a teen and getting married was a good dose of hype-reality. (What WAS that movie? It's going to drive me crazy now).

(:
Lori

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Posted by Lori

The movie I mentioned is For Keeps.

And your children are very, very well rounded! (:
Lori

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Posted by Debbles107

I love it! But now I have "Stick to What you Know" stuck in my head, complete with an image of Corbin Bleu shaking his wild hair!

I'm glad our kids have the chance to explore and try things outside the setting of school where they would be ridiculed for certain choices.

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Posted by CrossView

*raises hand*

I love how homeschooling lets kids find their natural gifts and try well, everything!

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Posted by jess4him

even though a few of the pics were missing, this post was AWESOME (as always).. thanks for that, and for the good reminder to get "out of our comfort zones" every now and again.. :)

have an awesome day!
jessica

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Posted by proverbsmomof3

though I watched it on TNT a few years ago for the first time. I agree that I would not endorse it as a family film, but the 'moral' (term used loosely) does speak volumes. I can see the same day and night comparrisons in my own children. They seem oblivious to stereotypes. I'm glad to see that my son is not the only boy who can latch hook, knit or sew for that matter, but would give just about anything if we would buy him a BB gun for Christmas(NEVER, we know him too well LOL). Thanks for sharing.
Blessings
Ginny

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Posted by CarpeBanana

I came over to introduce myself and find you apparently have the twin for my Mr Music. Mr Music would heartily approve of the armed to the teeth photo. He can't see it now, though, because he is sound asleep... surrounded by all his sister's Beanie Babies.

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Posted by lahbluebonnet

I never saw the first movie and I've heard of the second. I love the ballerina picture, your dd? I had to laugh because the blog took a totally different turn than I had expected! lol I got your comment on my blog about the science lesson. You know, we've started school this week but since we just did 2 weeks of hands on science on vacation a few weeks ago, we'll add that last as we get acclimated back to school. I thought it neat you were going to use it for a science lesson! I hope the pictures were clear enough. Yesterday I wrote up a quiz for the next blog entry...just haven't had a chance to post it yet. I thought I'd better let you know so you don't think it was staged! lol
Blessings,
Laurie

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Posted by Susan

Just yesterday, b/f reading your blog, I was dreaming a few dreams for G. All of the sudden it struck me... even though I'm a Mom, must I give up all my hidden dreams?? Your post was like confirmation to still chase down one or two of them!!

Thanks Kellie!

p.s. we never rented this movie during one of our weekends so I missed it... shame!!

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Posted by reelmomof4

Hey you wonder woman! I like all the pics from all the posts(I've been away from the computer this week mostly). I did not even get to do the P.W. photo contest! WAAAAAAAA! I would not have won anyways. I'm not very witty at captions. But I digress. Hope all is well. My dh is out building our chicken coop. Yea. I am tired of those little poopers messing up my garage. They are in little baby swimming pools(minus the H20 of course), but they are getting a little big and need to be moved. See ya later(o.k., not really but who is being literal).
Tammy

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Posted by greatmomfish

FUNNY, Funny, funny! We have these same scenarios at my home. My little boy will go totally beserk and he and dad will spend like an hour wrestling in the floor and the next he will sit down and enjoy Beauty and the Beast with his little sister.

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