My son is a teenager now, just going on 14, and he’s decided that now is the time for him to be exploring his “emo” side. It makes me laugh, and feel like crying at the same time. I remember when I was a kid and tried to keep up with all the trends that were happening at the time. I had the big boofy eighties hairdo and danced around my bedroom to Madonna, but it seems things have changed since then.

My son listens to depressing music, wears his hair hanging in his eyeballs, and mopes around the house like a sick puppy that has just lost it’s best friend. He recently painted his whole room black, and now insists that to be comfortable in his surroundings he needs black mini blinds to finish it off. I don’t think he’ll be breaking out the platform shoes anytime soon, unfortunately.