Idol Chatter

Eight days of school left in my first grade room. Sometimes it feels like the inmates are running the asylum. To engage my 18 six-year-old best friends, I save my very best activities until the end of May. Today's centers? Pirates and Princesses. The lines were clearly drawn about who picked which center. (Hint: I have 9 boys and 9 girls. My portable classroom stayed bubble on plum with the distribution between erstwhile Jack Sparrows and Cinderellas.)

While two of the boys were creating a Treasure Map together, I listened to their conversation:

Boy 1: Did you watch American Idol last night?

Boy 2: What's that?

Boy 1: It's a show my Mom watches all the time where people sing. This one guy, he wore these huge shoes and had spikes all over his clothes. And then he said, "HEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRREEEEEEEES KISS!"

Boy 2: (Trying to keep up with a conversation he knew nothing about) What's Kiss?

Boy 1: Kiss! You know: KISS! They are these people who wear costumes and stick their tongues out.

Boy 2: (Not sure where this is going.) Oh.

Boy 1: You know: KISS! They have some songs on Guitar Hero. I only get to play one of the songs because my Mom says they are inappropriate until I am older. Like 8 or 9.

Boy 2: (Glad for an opening.) Well, I do know what Guitar Hero is. How does the song go?

Boy 1: (Begins playing air guitar and singing, atonally.) "Nananananananana!'

Boy 2: (Relieved to have some knowledge of the subject.) Oh, Yeah! I know that song.

Boy 1: Well: that's KISS!

At this point I could not resist breaking into the conversation. The mom in me just didn't want a six year old idolizing Kiss with all its smoke and mirror tricks.

Mrs. O: Hey! Did you know that under all that makeup the men in Kiss are older than I am?

(Stunned silence, while the wheels of their brains were turning and picturing this.)

Boy 1: Ewww!

Boy 2: (Suddenly on board.) Yeah. Ewww!

(OK: maybe that "Ewwww!'' was a little too enthusiastic as they probably think I'm as old as the dinosaurs.)

And then they went back to charting buried treasure on graph paper.

Congratulations, Kris Allen. Sometimes the good guys do win!