Teen Tuesday: Of Dab and Dandruff!

From toddler to teen and everything in between – that is how my current #momlife situation is! Give me potty training anytime! Teens and their hormones are a totally different area of expertise – one which I am still learning to figure out. Starting #TeenTuesday on the blog to share more about being a teen mom. My almost teen is giving some real parenting experiences to share. Here is this week’s dose of dealing with preteen hormones 🙂

Dabbing

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you must already have seen this one. My 12 year old is ‘enlightening’ me on the ways of the GenNext. How I hate saying GenNext! I used to be GenNext! I am ancient now?! Okay, back to the topic – I was recently introduced to something called ‘Dab’.

It was an innocent situation. My daughter and her friends were dressed up for the Garba/Dandiya dance during Navratri. The quintessential “momtog” (ha..ha..if you don’t know that term, you are another step behind me in being old lol! Never mind, it means Mom Photographer) inside me asked them to pose for a pic. To which they quickly responded by bending their heads into their bent elbows. See the picture above to know what I mean. Now, I was expecting anything but this. Some pose with their dandiya sticks was what I was more prepared for.

My reflex answer to this move was, “What are you girls doing?”

To which my daughter calmly replies, “Mom, it’s called Dab.”

I didn’t really know what to make out of it. But her confident tone told me that it must indeed, mean something. And like every trained parent, I immediately said:

“Of course I know it is called Dab! But you should be striking a more traditional pose in these traditional Indian dresses.”

Nobody responded to my preaching. In my mind, even I was thinking that I sounded off just like my mother. The picture was taken and the girls went off to dance their hearts off.

As soon as they were out of sight, I Googled ‘Dab’, feeling COMPLETELY ANCIENT in my mind. And what do you know? This silly pose is actually a thing! Check it out on Urban Dictionary. And it is a BIG thing if Instagram is to be believed. It actually has a Wikipedia Page too!

All the comments that flew in on my IG and FB posts made me feel a tad bit relieved that I wasn’t the only one ignorant of ‘DAB’. I actually made a lot of people google it last night lol!

But the thing is that the little girl to whom I taught the ‘cool’ stuff like internet acronyms (What is ROFL Mom?) and introduced her to ‘Tween’ movies like ‘Jump In’, actually gave me her first lesson from the Urban Dictionary. It was actually depressing and I did not even enjoy the Dandiya night fully! Mamma was caught completely unawares and I can sense that this is only the beginning! So I better learn to suck it up 🙂

Preteen Dandruff

Until a while ago, I was blissfully busy talking about my own hair issues. Move over Mamma, you’ve had your spotlight! Now the 12 year old has hair issues – dandruff nonetheless! Before you realize, the kids are already into the ‘beauty concerns’ age.

So when big sis started scratching her hair after I had painstakingly eliminated all the lice, I realized to my shock that she had dandruff! Yes, teen and pre-teen dandruff is also a thing, as @haircentral educated ne – it starts around adolescence I came to know. A mild dandruff shampoo was recommended.

I quickly went through Amazon reviews. I wouldn’t have given a second thought before picking up the prettiest bottle or the trendiest name for myself. However, when considering a ‘product’ that would be used on my baby’s (of course she is still my baby!) I was not so sure. I went with our trusted Himalaya (No, this post isn’t sponsored by them lol) and it has been working just fine. The dandruff disappears with the use of the shampoo and comes back when she stops using it. So, my grocery list has a new addition for her now. She is using her dandruff shampoo regularly now and we have some kind of a solution.

And so the two Ds have made their way into our lives now – The Dab move and the hopefully temporary Dandruff! And you know what was most frustrating? Daddy turned out to be not so ancient – he actually knew what DAB was!!!!