HOUSTON — In the 70s it was bell bottoms. In the 90s was all about grunge, but this school year, students will be upping their accessory game.
“My son wanted some really cool masks with a camping pattern and space pattern,” says mother Vicky.
Parents tell us that accessorizing with COVID masks is a trend they are seeing among their friends as well.
This year’s trends also include Pop It fidget toys.
“I don’t even know what the technical name for it is, but the poppers that come in different shapes. They’re basically bubble wrap, but you can re-pop them. And that’s the new thing,” Ugochi tells us.
Vicky says the popping fidget toys are popular with her daughter, too.
“Some of those pop its, they’re key chains and you can hang them on your backpack and my daughter wanted new stuff for her backpack to hang and she wanted pop its key chains, so we went chasing for those a little bit,” she says.
The toys range from $3 to $15 online and come in all shapes and colors. They’re available on numerous websites, including Amazon.
Joi’s daughter is 15, and like other parents of teens, she is navigating “tech distractions.” This includes apps like TikTok.
“I get caught in what I call the ‘TikTok’ loop myself, because I start watching one and my daughter says I close it down the wrong way and that’s why I get trapped — and you watch one and then another one comes up and another one,” says Joi. “I’ve been very fortunate that my daughter is very self-regulating, and she takes care of her business very well. And so I haven’t really when it comes to how it affects academics and so forth.”
So, what do these parents thing kids are looking forward to most this school year?
“Definitely being back with their friends! My daughter has a core group of friends and last year, I think they got together 3 times during the COVID season,” says Joi. “I think it will be nice to see them get back to socializing with people in person again.”
Vicky says the kids are likely looking forward to being away from their parents as well, getting a little independence out of the house.
Ugochi adds the kids are also looking forward to more traditional events as well, like football games and prom season — many of the things they had to skip the last school year because of COVID-19.