Teenagers scare the living shit out of me!

According to my thirteen year old her eleven year old sister is going through an emo phase. I'm not entirely sure what an emo is. I understand that it's something to do with being emotional, hence the "emo" bit, I know that there is a cartoon up at one of the studios I rehearse at and it says

"I wish my lawn was an emo, then it would cut itself"

So I figure that there's gardening involved and I know that there's some black in there too.

The other night I took the eleven year old to a school concert in which she was playing violin. I am blessed in that both of my girls have a level of musical ability; the eleven year old plays piano and violin and her sister plays the drums. The journey involved taking the eldest to a friend's house and then taking her sibling to the concert and sitting through two hours of pain.

As we headed to the car the youngest said

"Baggsie I have the front seat" and ran towards the car, promptly jumping into the seat and claiming ownership rights. Her sister scowled in that teenager's way. Groans of dismay came from her general direction, she's not quite old enough to not be bothered and was evidently a bit narked that she had the back seat.

Recently it's dawned on me that the reason they fight and run and baggsie to get the front seat is not actually for the pleasure of sitting next to their Dad. It's not because they want to share fun and laughter and bonding moments with me. It's not that they want to see my face as I smile at their company. No, it's because the one in the front can control the music we listen to. We get in the car, I start the engine, put on my sunglasses and before I've even had time to check my hair in the mirror and put the car in gear one of the kids has started to play with the stereo.

Back to the other night though. We jumped aboard and the 11 year old had the pilot's seat. A small fight broke out between the sisters, one that I felt quite good about; would we listen to Muse's CD or My Chemical Romance's? All good stuff, even though I know many will be dismayed and disappointed at my liking of MCR's CD. I'm slightly unsure whether the album is a mini masterpiece or a piece of commercialised manufactured radio friendly pop rock. But, at the moment I like it, just with a few reservations. The 11 year old however, is totally into it, so much so that it has been blasting out of any speaker anywhere near her for the last week or so.

They fought a bit, 13 year old complaining that all she had heard that week was MCR and therefore could we listen to Muse. I pulled rank, it happens, just infrequently, and said that we shoud listen to MCR.

Off we went, listening to "Teenagers". It's a kind of tacky yet anthemic song with a singalong chorus that goes

"teenagers scare the living shit out of me.."

And, as we drove along the road with the three of us singing along at full volume to the chorus and music blasting out, I knew exactly why the chap in MCR feels so scared about teenagers.