Mom's Dated References

Ice, Ice, Baby came on the radio during one of their Throwback moments, so naturally as a former teen of the '90s who would never turn down an opportunity for nostalgia (grade 7 dance flashbacks!), I cranked it and got my Running Man going. I'm right in the middle of waxing chumps like a candle and Big Bro moseys in and goes, "Um, are you supposed to dance to this, or what?"

Young whippersnapper. Let's see YOU cook MCs like a pound of bacon, whatever that means. 

Sometimes it hits me that my kids didn't exist in the '80s, '90s and even the '00s (!!) so they don't get my dated pop cultural references. Remember when we played Banana Phone and they didn't even know the proper way to answer "Who ya gonna call"? No wonder I need adult contact sometimes!

Disclaimer: I was never under the illusion I was cool, so let's just establish that. And also I do try to stay current on many things (I learned what dabbing was before 2016 was over! After Betty White, my sister reminds me, but Betty White was always cool and probably has people to keep her in the know).
But my kids remind me how dated some of my go-tos are. And how often I use them. And how for some most of them, you probably had to be there.

Take The Simpsons, for instance. My brother returned to university as a mid-30s mature student and discovered that his young adult classmates think of the Simpsons vaguely as "that show with the woman with the blue hair" (note to self: don't try to connect with teens via Simpsons quotes). When my friends and I were teens and young adults, though (when the show was good), everything had a related Simpsons quote. You could tell a friend that what they just said was a load of rich, creamery butter, and everyone would know exactly what you were talking about, amirite? So good. 
Wait, maybe I WAS cool after all. 

So of course, my kids at 6 and 4 are not going to know what I'm talking about when I quote a movie line or break into song, which happens often.

2003 is now "before someone's time". Gah.

Here's another one. The other day, the kids told me we didn't have any glue left. In faux-rage, I bellow  'YOUU USED UP ALLL THE GLUUUE... on PURPOSE!"

"No, we didn't!'

Oh, right. they haven't seen A Christmas Story's famous broken-leg-lamp scene. It just looks like I'm out to lunch saying those random things I say. 

Thank goodness for YouTube, which allows me to fill them in so at least they're in on the reference. Does anyone else's kid sing the "you take a block from the bottom" song while playing Jenga? If not, get on it. It's on YouTube. It's classic. 

Some parents share tales passed down from generation to generation about their cultural heritage. My kids get 20-year-old TV quotes. And not even always the good stuff.  

And if that makes me lame, then I guess I'm just a big lame.

Oh wait, that was a Simpsons reference. Never mind.