teach them well and let them lead the way. what happens to little kids who are the envy of all of their peers? what is it like to be so cool at the age of ten that everyone already wants to be you? hell, i'm twenty six and i wanted to be them. and by them i'm talking about the young dancers of future shock. these kids are all under eighteen and the littlest ones have just the right combination of cuteness, attitude and talent to make you want to steal one for yourself. nothing says hip hop like a kid with huge hair and even huger clothes.



isn't it all bullshit? when they say that being good at one thing translates into confidence during everything else? i think this only applies to one or two things. if you happen to be good at something crowd pleasing and popular, your one talent can define you and elevate you to the pantheon of gods -- sports perhaps? if your one outstanding talent is playing the kazoo, well, you're probably shit out of luck.



but say your talent is dancing, and not just any dancing but freestyle hip hop dancing. imagine the hoards of onlookers you'd have at middle school dances. every girl would want to dance with you, every guy would call you "sissy" (out of jealousy of course) and every teacher would immediately give you better grades because you're such an entertaining kid. what happens to kids who start out cool at such a young age? can they ever become uncool? i feel like the thing with "cool" is that once you get it, you can't lose it.



remember in school when some kid at your school would always get to miss a few days of class? and you would always wonder why? then you found out it was because they were a world class karate kid or an unequaled equestrian or something. immediately your perception of them changed. they were no longer "the kid who was bad at math," they suddenly became "the girl who rides horses," or "the guy who kicks serious ass."



at young ages, it is important to shower our children with accolades. it is important that we build our children's confidence and short of having any actual commendations to bestow (not every kid is as talented as we'd like them to believe), we can always reward the kids with certificates for reading and attending school. this always struck me as odd. walking into someone's bedroom and its filled with certificates about "billy now reads at the second grade level, you're a star!" in taiwan, reading and writing and attending school weren't rewarded with stickers. you did it or you got beat. do you think little taiwanese kids got rewarded for learning a new word every day? hell no. then again, despite stunning grades, taiwanese kids generally always feel like "i'm not good enough, i'm not good enough." american schools on the other hand, impart the "you're good enough if you try hard(er)" mentality. "hey, little billy can read okay? who cares if he's twelve and does it at the second grade level? leave him alone!"



anyway, back to my point that healthy kids generally need something to hang their little hats onto. when i hear about programs or events that "give kids confidence and empower them," i kind of scoff and think it's ridiculous. we need to leave no child behind (stare at camera, use vapid expression, finger point), not make them dance! but i can imagine a slightly unconfident kid getting into something like a future shock, and through dancing, they get to have that one thing they are confident and expressive in. and having that one thing would make all the difference in their day to day kid interactions -- as well as possibly influencing the flow of their entire life. so, even if your talent is kazoo related, it's probably better to be good at something than to be terrible at everything. more superfluous certificates and bumper stickers all around i say.



now if only i had been a future shock like prodigy then, i would HAVE been so much cooler now. blast.