MICHELLE DOES "MOM DANCING"

OMG, has there ever been a hipper First Lady than Michelle? But not just surface hip – we’re talking bone-deep “she gets it” chill. Not only does she use the Oscar presentations as a huge opportunity to pitch support for the arts and the critical importance of culture in all our lives, she’s down to dance with Jimmy Fallon as an adorable promo for her “Let’s Move” campaign, which encourages physical activity (with parents joining their kids!) as part of a healthy lifestyle. Check out “The Evolution of Mom Dancing.” I don't quite get the charges that this kind of "every woman" accessibility is inappropriate. Give me someone I can relate to over stiff and proper gravitas any day.

THE BACK-UP PLAN

I had a difficult conversation with my eldest recently. It had to do with reassessing her plans if her current post-grad dreams don’t result in some form of financial independence within a reasonable amount of time. (I keep thinking of that delightfully cryptic Doonesbury comic where Joanie tells her son his “days as a reality intern are over.”)

It wasn’t a conversation I especially wanted to have, being confrontationally averse. And I didn’t take Joanie’s hardline, no-nonsense tack. But it came as a natural segue when my daughter mentioned some of her immediate life goals.  I suggested she add to that list finding something she really liked to do that she could ultimately parlay into work that would sustain her financially, since her current artistic endeavors were not likely to do that. That was met with tears of disappointment and betrayal, with suggestions that I don’t support what she’s trying to accomplish, don’t believe she can “make it.” It was a very tough moment. I countered with lots of reassurance and validation of her talent. (I believe in you, but a life in music is so difficult, the economy is so bad, blah blah blah.) But I didn’t back down, and it left us both feeling sad.

When my younger daughter came home awhile later and I mentioned how I was feeling and why, she saved the day for me, helping put it all in perspective. “Mom, sometimes parents have to say really hard things their kids don’t want to hear. But you still have to say them. And you weren’t try to cramp her dreams, you were just trying to tell her that she needs a realistic back-up plan.” Wow, out of the mouths of babes…