Girls just want to have fun.....

An oldie, but goodie. SJP in her prime as a teenager in Chicago trying to get a dancing role on "Dance TV", beat out the rival rich bitch, and keep her new bf/dance partner all while attending Catholic school and hiding her adventures from her parents.

Sure..similar formula to dozens of 80's movies. There was just something about this one that always stuck in my mind. Watching it back today, I found it frivolous and fun. It certainly didn't deserve any Oscars, but it's a great way to pass a couple of hours.

Do you remember being with your friends and feeling like you would literally die if you didn't get that new outfit, cassette tape, or trapper keeper? And I mean LITERALLY..not like Rachel Zoe's literally. You would die from embarrassment or from the bullies who would pick on you, or from the general principal of proving your parents wrong.

Life seemed so complicated. Maneuvering junior and senior high school was a delicate chess game. Which clique do I join? Should I play a sport? What jeans and sneakers (or Topsiders) are in THIS week?

Lord...if only we could go back and tell or earlier selves that these were the times to relax and enjoy ourselves. To tell them that life will never be more simple and uncomplicated than the high school years.

However, times have changed. The same pitfalls we once had are now big and exaggerated. That embarrassing moment can now be recorded on cell phones and uploaded or traded for the world to see. Scarier still is the cute guy or girl next to us can see it. That note you passed in 1990 is now a text message. A message that can be sent to dozens of your classmates in a moment.

No longer can we tear that note up and make it go away. No longer can we get up and leave the lunch room after dropping the lunch tray all over yourself and knowing no one would have to see it again.

I have a niece who is 12. I know each generation says that the younger one is "growing up too fast". However, I feel for the first time, it's too true for words. Children can't get away from silly little problems that come up in daily life. It can carry with them every day. "Frenemies" can tease you with the possibility of sending that message or video to your crush.

This isn't what I want for my nieces and nephews, or for the children I hope to have one day. I want the biggest problem to be the sneakers or the mp3 player. As shitty as it is to be picked on for the little things, I think it beats the alternative.

Too bad the frivolous fun of 80's teen movies can't be the frivolous real life of today's youth.

Now...where did I leave my snap bracelet?