Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I woke this morning feeling pressure, nothing serious, just all the little things to do and take care of, but most of all, what to do with Annie. She has entered what I call, “The Wanting Zone.” But what she wants is to be in front of a computer or a television set all day, and when I nixed both of those ideas, she came up with the idea that we take a trip to the toy store. “I’m bored,” she said, “and that makes me depressed.” I replied, “What kind of mother would I be if when you were “depressed” as you say, my solution was to take you shopping?” “You would be a GOOD mother,” she said.

David recently showed me an article from the New York Times about the current generation of American girls and their insatiable desire for media and their need for stimulation. The problem is, says the article, that because females are natural “Multi-taskers,” the girl child will find herself regularly watching TV while she surfs the net on her computer, and talks on the phone to one friend while text-messaging another. This is obviously a negative thing for so many reasons, one being that she rarely focuses on one thing, she is split and divided, she never sits with herself and she becomes easily bored. In fact, the boredom thing has become so powerful with Annie lately that today, when it began pouring rain and was obvious it would be the second day in a row that our boating plans would be cancelled, she sat on the bed and cried. When I approached her, began to stroke her hair and ask what was wrong, she wouldn’t answer me. These days I am always on the lookout for her to start feeling the affects of me sleeping at my apartment every night, so I immediately thought she was pained by that. But when I hinted a bit about it, she burst into tears. “It’s not that!” she cried, “I just want to be ENTERTAINED!”

But the good news says the article, is that girls today are smart and they are clever. They are sophisticated and aware, they can even recognize sexism when faced with it and they are clear enough in their thinking to spot and reject bullshit.

So I gave Annie the same speech I always give, how we are in one of the greatest cities in the world, how some people only dream of coming to New York and how fortunate we are to live here. I explained that we are surrounded by every culture in the world, famous museums, beautiful architecture and a rich history. But she just hung her head and her round cheeks got rounder and softer, and her red lips got fuller and I am just so damn in love with her… and a few minutes later, while I made the beds and wondered where did the little girl go who used to love Wayne Shorter but now prefers Hillary Duff, I heard her laughing in the next room. I went in and there she was reading a book, and she looked up at me and said, “There’s a Cary Grant movie playing downtown, can we go to see that?” And I breathed…a sigh…of relief.