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High School Never Ends

 


I'm the mom who periodically monitors her middle schooler's school gmail account. I monitor for certain things, one being missed homework assignments, because let's face it! He's in middle school and there are so many other things he'd rather be doing than his homework. At the same time, he's smarter than I ever was in school and when he's pushed, he truly can rock his homework, just like the great bands of the early 2000's. 

Does my kiddo know that I monitor his school email? Not exactly. Judge me if you want! He does know that I have access to it. I'm not going to defend myself, but I will say that in doing so, I spare myself from a lot of worry. I also monitor for signs of bullying and profanity. I've found both, but that's a discussion for another day. When your child has been the target of bullying on multiple occasions, it's important to watch for the signs, so that you can have evidence when it comes to communication with school leadership. 

You're probably wondering where I'm headed with this. So let's get to the point! Look up at that glorious album cover. Where are my Bowling for Soup fans? Raise those hands high! Also...slowly lower them as I tell you that his album was released in...2006. Now do me a favor and turn on "High School Never Ends" and reminisce for the 3 minutes and 29 seconds that make up that awesome song. 

One of the best parts of being a parent to my middle schooler is this. He's starting to discover for the first time some of the greatest artists and songs from back in the day! How do I know that he's recently found this gem of a song? You guessed it! The evidence is right there in his gmail account. His friend sent him an email with the subject line "this is a song you will love" and the link took me all the way back to 2006 as I listened to a song that truly lives rent free in the back of my mind. 

"And then you graduate, you take a look around and say hey wait! This is the same as where I just came from. I thought it was over, oh that's just great!"

While I can't give my child the "book smarts" that my husband can, I sure can grace him with my musical knowledge, especially when it comes to the 80's, 90's and 2000's. I've also found him listening to Simple Plan and this one is random....Flo Rida (I also had to tell him how to pronounce the "rida" part, because of course I know that one)! What our kids will never experience is the social media evidence-free existence of the memories that are tied to all of the songs they discover from our youth. 

So what's my plan of action knowing that he's discovered "High School Never Ends"? Simple! I'm going to casually play it on the way to drop him off at school tomorrow. Let's see what he says! Also, Reese Witherspoon is still the prom queen! 


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