If I have to hear one more thing about Taylor Swift I may completely lose it.  Yes, I took them to her concert and it was fun, but this is bordering on maddening.

My daughter and her friends talk about Taylor Swift, listen to her music, sing her songs and emulate her hairstyles all the time. I realize it's a rite of passage to run out and buy Tiger Beat etc., and plaster pictures of all your favorite stars on your walls, I have no problem with it. I had multiple posters of Rob Lowe on my wall as a tween. My problem is these kids speak of little else. Dear Lord, give me strength, I can't take it anymore.

I don't think these girls have crossed into any weird obsession, I think this is within the normal realm of tween/teen celebrity obsession that's been going on since Rudy Valentino and Frank Sinatra had adoring fans screaming their names.  I think Taylor Swift seems like a lovely young woman, talented and kind.  But it doesn't make it any less annoying for me as a parent to have to endure the non-stop chatter.

In her latest book "I Think I Love You" Alison Pearson, explores this teenage phenomenon, as her main character Petra, a young teen in south Wales and her friends share an obsession with David Cassidy in 1974.  They pour over fan magazines, memorizing trivia, lyrics and the like. It's something they share in common and use as a way to form friendships when being vulnerable to make connections is just too hard to do.  Pearson herself once a Cassidy fan, used her experiences as a basis for the novel.  Interviewing her former teen hero in 2004 she revealed to him that she wore nothing but brown for 18 months because she had read it was his favorite color.  It wasn't.

Recently my daughter was regaling me with Taylor facts and I interrupted her.  "Who was the 4th president of the United States?" I asked.  She looked at me blankly "Um, I don't know," she admitted sheepishly. 

I finally lost it with her the other night when she was up way past her bedtime trying to finish organizing her Taylor Swift locker decorations.  My rant was peppered with a few choice swear words as I made it clear that she was done and was going to bed right then.  

I calmed down and went in to see her and apologize.  I shouldn't have sworn or lost my temper I told her.  I also told her that if the non-stop Taylor talk didn't stop I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again.  "I know you really admire her, but I'm much more interested in talking to you about you and what's going on with you," I explained.  We agreed that we could still talk about Taylor so long as not every conversation revolved around her.

Once more I feel the need to apologize to my mother, who no doubt had to put up with her fair share of listening to me blather on about some celebrity or another until she was ready to jump out a window.