American Idol, Grade One Style

Everyone and their mother loves American Idol. As a kid, I remember loving the way my hoarse voice sounded when I had a cold and grabbing a microphone and singing into a tape recorder for hours thinking I sounded like a rock star. Now that I'm all grown up, and still sing in the car (badly, thank you very much, but with passion!), I watch how my child and her friends play. Whenever she has a playdate, the first thing she and her friends do is rush into her room and change their clothes into "costumes". Then they put on Hannah Montana (the BIG fave among 7 year-olds right now), or Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney or High School Musical and they prepare a performance.

I, of course, am the audience. They, of course, are deadly serious, so I can smile, but not laugh. They LOVE American Idol and have perfected all their moves. Shifting the microphone from one hand to the other, fluttering their fingers on the mike to the beat of "Best of Both Worlds" and adding in a few hip-hop stylings that have a bit too much hip in their hip-hop. And they sing out loud, with passionate volume. Louder is better. Hitting the notes, not as important as the image. They'd never make it past the first set of American Idol auditions (actually, at 7 they wouldn't have the patience to stand in line for more than 3 minutes "how much longer, Mummy?" and "are we there yet? We've been waiting for a MILLION years!") but at 7, that is the coolest goal ever. To get up on stage and sing to an audience. But wait. I'll be writing about the talent show soon.