Imagine my amazement that Zi would be familiar with the playlist of songs currently topping charts, by everyone from Rihanna to Taylor Swift to Meghan Trainor. These were songs I didn't know and don't play. Yet, she was singing along to chorus and sometimes verse. Where did such socialisation happen?
First, older cousins who opened her eyes to the Disney channel world of tween pop music and culture, playing the role that older, adored cousins have somehow always played for little girls.
Then, friends. I overheard one playdate asking for Zi's Barbies, and describing the details of how many she owns. Given that she has none herself, Zi pulled out some White, blond doll someone gave her, and it passed the test, preserving her street cred.
She listens in on the sidelines of school conversations and figures out what information she needs to know for next rounds, then comes home and asks me for the Hastek sisters' cover of Spice Girls' songs. I tried to show her the global girl power version, highlighting rights to education, marriage after childhood and more. She just said, no mommy, that's the wrong one.
Stone thought I shouldn't have looked up Lego Friends when Zi wanted to see who the characters were in Lego's girls' line of products, which is annoyingly pink and purple, but also features one of the few black girls with curly hair in any of their collections. Ha! Another friend came over and was already into the series of short, addictive videos that the company produces about the characters. All I did was route her to being in the know.
As I buy clothes in bigger sizes, she complains about the ones that look like boys' T-shirts, refusing black, greens and blue, and insisting on pink. It's all to match the outfits her best friends have. It's all about their approval. So and so will like these shiny gold shoes. So and so and I can wear our pink skirts together next time.
My sister, who is with us, and went through stages from Goth to army surplus store chic, was just as amazed at how important approval and belonging had become, on narrow, gendered terms. There's only so much a feminist mom can do when hyper-feminisation of girlhood is part of the life stages of patriarchy. Six-year-olds wear shoes with heels. She wants nail polish because other five-year-olds wear nail polish on weekends.
I bought dinosaur-themed birthday materials. In all seriousness, Zi asked if I thought her friends would want to go home when they realised that it wasn't a princess party. My choices for her get evaluated by these standards of hip. This is how you know your sapodilla is no longer a baby. Girl culture, in all its stereotypical colours, obsessions, conversations and criteria, has taken over. It was always going to happen. I just didn't think it would happen so early.
My sister asked me why I give in to the colours or videos Zi has decided she's into. I don't know that I have much choice. Did you want to be that kid, among your peers, dressed in your parents' ideological warfare against the world? Moms tell me that they give in because their girls are going to get exposed to whatever others are allowed anyway. They play jazz, like I do, but also Justin Bieber. They give them make-up to pretend, but they also sign them up for football.
Any mom will tell you, each stage is a new negotiation. This one is when the world takes socialisation from your full control. You catch up and keep up. Stone might decide there's no way he's playing Katy Perry. I'm going to have to know all the words. That's what moms I know do. You also start those conversations about what it means to decide for yourself who you are and what's cool.
Why does any of this matter? Any anthropologist will tell you that the micro reveals the macro. We should pay attention to the British Prime Minister's gender politics, but insights as legitimate come from observing globalised sub-cultures shaping terms and options for a new generation of our girls.