So that's what cool is?

I consider myself to be pretty cool.  Hip even.  What I mean by that is, as far as moms go I think I normally pass the test with my kids. Now mind you, I'm NOT one of those moms who wants to look and dress like her teenagers.  Frankly, I think skinny jeans are from the devil.  However I don't wear 'mom' jeans either, nor 'mom' sweaters with embroidered cats on them. (Those are definitely a blue light special from hades)  I don't spit on kleenex (anymore) to clean a dirty face on the way to church.  I try my best to not sing along with the pep band when they play "Freezeframe" by the J. Giles band.  Seriously, that one is tough.  It's so darn catchy.  Take a moment and sing it if you can.

So you see, we've established that I'm your basic, normal-ish trendy enough to make the cut mom.  But for all my mom coolness I cannot for the life of me understand this pose my daughter is demonstrating.  Its' sweeping the nation.  It's on every teenager's Facebook and it's always the same!

The pose by the tree above is a little less gangster.  But here, not only do we have gangster we have 'I'm gonna rob that gas station with a butter knife'. (all the while wearing my pink hat with a cross on it that I got at Bible camp)  What makes it even more funny to me, is that this picture is so uncharacteristic of her real personality.  

She usually looks like this!!  See, a sweet, cute smiling face.  No weird lip contortions and sideways peace signs.  No scary butterknife looks. (I realize the sombrero is a little distracting, but it was her Birthday and we love enchiladas)  My point is she's really quite a lovely, well mannered girl.  Polite, kind, great with little kids, loves her daddy, loves her sister, loves her brother (most days) works hard at school....but ask her to strike a pose...any pose she wants and she goes right back to this...

When I ask my kids why this is standard in the 'coolness industry' they can't even tell me. They just look at me like I'm wearing one of those uncool cat sweaters.  So,  I've come to the conclusion that in teenager land contorted lips + sideways peace sign = cool. It just does. Period.  I only wish the J. Giles band would make a comeback, because then I could sing along with the pep band and be cool too.  True dat.