6 Lessons From Taylor Swift
At Christmas, Santa brought my 10-year-old daughter a Taylor Swift calendar and tickets to her show in Atlanta. If you know 10-year-old girls, you can imagine how the gift went over. (If you don't know one, imagine how a starving man reacts to food and you'll be close to the excitement level!) When I tell people (over the age of 16) about our plans to attend the concert, I get words of condolences and looks of pity as though I'm taking a big hit for playing chaperone. Taylor Swift seems to inspire a bunch of detractors and not merely because people don't dig her pop/country music genre.
I don't understand this reaction.
To be sure, I'll notice the "pitch" problems (though I can't carry a tune in a bag), my ears will be ringing after all of the screaming girls (hello ear plugs!), and I'll quickly tire of Ms. Swift's "I'm so SURPRISED you are all here for little ol' me" look (maybe she'll drop this when she's 25). But dwelling on those things feels petty and hypercritical in light of the bigger benefits found in the evening.
For instance if you haven't noticed, there aren't a ton of adult topics your kids want to talk about. They don't care about home repairs, work problems,, or taxes. They are more interested in duct tape and music different from your own. If you want to connect, move toward THEIR interests; that's always a good thing.
But aside from sharing interests and spending time together, Taylor Swift demonstrates more than a handful of admirable qualities which are positive reference points with my kid.
1. Be creative
Write! Sing! Play! Go for quantity of creative tasks and eventually the quality will come. My daughter plays guitar so she can play Taylor Swift songs. She's taking up the ukelele for the same reason. I'll take it.
2. Recognize and use your talents
Everyone's created differently with various skill sets, but whatever you've been given, use. Don't let your age stop you from jumping into the deep end of the pool!
3. Work hard
Raw talent isn't enough for anything - practice and hard work are the differentiators. Taylor Swift works extremely hard and taking a page from her work ethic is fine by me!
4. Keeps things clean
We don't need another pop diva in a plunging neckline and see-through dress. We don't need cursing or immodest innuendos. Keep it clean, fun, and entertaining without dropping to the "shock & awe" level so common. Thanks!
5. Know your audience
There are no secrets in marketing, and that's ok. Taylor Swift knows her audience WANTS her to be nice to the Make A Wish kids (Story here); they want her to be grateful for their cheering. A mutual admiration society feels schmaltzy between her and 20,0000 of her fans, but expectations are set and met and that makes everyone happy.
6. Mistakes are part of life
I am so thankful I didn't have to have my dating life spilled across tabloids when I was 23. YIKES! My bad decisions were epic and I didn't have the skills to write songs about it. I've decided not to hold Taylor's "gotcha" song writing talent against her. She's still learning, and in the spectrum of coping tools, songwriting seems relatively healthy. Her flaws aren't fatal, and I'm going to practice grace and talk to my kid about doing the same!
I'm probably not the only chaperone who believes it's ok to embrace "Taylor Nation" once in a while...