Brainwashing, Schmainwashing

Both Keri and Matty intimated (read: mocked) that Erika's choice of an ice cream cake for her birthday celebration was more of a reflection of my brainwashing than the intrinsic deliciousness of Carvel creations.

Which, as anyone who's had the pleasure of even one cookie-crunch studded, artificially-flavored vanilla and chocolate bite knows, is ridiculous.

I mean, of course Erika was exposed to Carvel ice cream cakes in the first place because I love them, but that's how kids learn everything. Take their music preferences, for example. There's one song that's stone-cold guaranteed to make Aaron, Gretchen and Ronan start dancing like crazy around the foyer, and it's not the Wiggles, Hannah Montana, or anything that was even recorded in this century. Don't even bother guessing.

It's the theme from "Free To Be You And Me." That's right, the feminist, hippie anthem from the feminist, hippie movie we saw every year in grade school. Back in the 1970s.

Does Keri really want to argue that the fact that she put this on a mix of kid songs she gave out as party favors for Ronan's birthday, then played on endless loop on her car's CD player, had absolutely nothing to do with their love affair with this catchy tune?

I've heard that friends have more influence on kids than their parents do. Well, that might be true with older kids, but right now, all Erika (and, to a lesser extent, Hilary) wants to do is what I do. She wants to run, play tennis, and be a writer when she grows up. If I have graham crackers and peanut butter for breakfast, that's what she wants. She loves American Idol, Charlotte's Web and Newfoundlands.

And that's fine with me. In fact, I'm hoping to consolidate my influence by inundating her with tennis lessons, cozy snuggles with books, and mommy-and-me dates to the Villanova track, so by the time her friends tell her that tennis and writing and running aren't cool, they'll be so hardwired into her brain that she won't care.

Is that too much to hope for? Maybe. But it's worth a try.