3 Going on 13

Today when I picked Greenleigh up at school she announced, “Mommy, I want a Justin Bieber shirt.”

Um, what?  She’s 3.  I thought I had at least 9 years before we hit this phase.  Seven to eight years, minimum.  What the hell was happening in my world?  Are we suddenly going to skip almost a decade and go right for the TeenBeat years?  How did we go from Dora the Explorer who was so very popular that morning to Justin Bieber just a mere 9 hours later?

Hold me.  I’m not ready.

“What’s a Justin Bieber shirt, honey?”, was about the only response I could mutter.  I wasn’t even playing dumb as much as I was dumbstruck to the point where I think my only possible response was to create a question out of the words that had been presented to me in the sentence before.

“Raylee had one on today.  It was black.  It was Justin Bieber.  Her Ya-Ya had one too.  I want one.”

Again, totally shocked.  But a little part of me wanted to know more.  Needed to know more.  So I did what any good mom (who also happens to be an attorney) does – I deposed her.  Question after question about Raylee, the shirt, and who this “Justin Bieber” boy was.  I mean, I know who he is, I just wanted to know if she knew.  And of course, the more I asked, the less she wanted to talk.  Which is the same way real depositions go, by the way.  But one thing was very clear, she wanted that shirt.  One just like Raylee’s.

Then I pointed to her adorable bird t-shirt that she was wearing with the words”Big Sister” on it and said, “But your birdie shirt is pretty cool.  Wouldn’t you rather wear that?”

“No, I want a Justin Bieber shirt.”

I suddenly had flashbacks of all shirts that my parents never wanted me to wear out of the house – my handmade puffy paint shirts, anything with even so much of a hint of airbrushing, and most of all, my beloved New Kids on the Block t-shirt that I got for Christmas when I was 12 years old.  All perfectly acceptable in the house, but not to be worn in public.  What seemed like cruel and unusual punishment back then, now made a lot of sense.  I don’t really want to walk around with Justin Bieber’s face plastered on my daugher’s shirt, let alone my toddler daughter’s shirt.

For the record, I have absolutely nothing against Justin Bieber.  And other than his most recent hit (which I can’t stand), I actually like his music.  I would have no problem with Greenleigh liking him or wearing one of his shirts…When she’s 12.  Hell, I don’t even know if they make his shirts in a 3T, and I’m not going to take the time to google if they do.  It’s not happening.

Now that I’ve settled that issue, any ideas how to get her to stop running around the house yelling “Justin Biebeeerrrrr”?

A very special thank you to the parents who sent their 3 year old to school this morning in a Justin Bieber shirt.