For anyone who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, the Super Bowl halftime show was a delightful time warp into our youth. If you circled must-have fashion items in a dELiA’s catalog, ever touched a hacky sack or a slap bracelet, had a binder full of CDs, and/or remember feeling like Breyer’s Viennetta ice cream was the height of sophistication, you were probably as giddy as we were.
But our children only know us as the people who keep multiple bottles of ibuprofen, hoard a stash of plastic bags inside other plastic bags, and fund their extracurricular activities and school lunch accounts. So it may have come as a bit of a shock to see their folks going ham in front of the TV.
Kids are about to get a first hand encounter when their parents DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT during halftime of the @SuperBowl#SuperBowlHalftimeShow 😳😎
— Taylor Hicks (@TaylorHicks) February 13, 2022
Dem babies watching their parents and grand parents during the halftime show 😜🤣🥴 #nfl#SuperBowl#HalfTimeShowpic.twitter.com/28r7WtSezv
— Andre T Denman (@2adenman) February 14, 2022
How many parents had to explain to their kids that they used to be “cool” after that halftime show?#SuperBowl#SBLVI
— ybhaten (@ybhaten) February 14, 2022
I legitimately can not wait for the tik toks of kids learning who their parents really are during this #SuperBowl halftime show
— Lacy 🥥🌴 (@tueslay) February 13, 2022
Just a quick public apology to all of the kids 12 and under who had to watch their parents during that halftime show. You weren’t prepared for that. #PepsiHalftimeShow#SuperBowl#SnoopDogg#DrDre#Eminem#MaryJBlige#KendrickLamar
— mcherico (@themattcherico) February 14, 2022
Or, at the very least, made them cringe so hard — which is so much fun, amiright, parents of tweens and teens?! (Bonus points if you said something like, “This halftime show slaps.”)
“You love this song… I know mom… I knnnooowwww”
To all my fellow parents who loved this halftime as much as I did- remember to get those colonoscopies and mammograms scheduled! #SuperBowl#SuperBowlHalftimeShowpic.twitter.com/UyIRFujhRc
— Becky Schmooke (@BSchmooke) February 14, 2022
I really wish we could have bottled the shock and horror kids felt seeing their parents dance to the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
— Mass Dude (@DudeMass) February 14, 2022
Shout out to every kid who just had to endure their Gen X parents embarrassing the hell out of them during the halftime show. #SuperBowl
— Lazy Leslie Knope (@LazyKnope) February 14, 2022
If you are still raving about the halftime show, know that right now your kids are looking at you the way you looked at your parents when they raved about Bob Hope. #superbowl#HalfTimeShow
— Alvin Hart (@AlvinHart19) February 14, 2022
Of course, some of us have kids who ALREADY KNOW because we’ve previously introduced them to The Classics.
Everyone talking about how their kids are going to find out who their parents REALLY are at the Superbowl halftime show. Meanwhile that’s just a regular Sunday to my kids.
— Mom.Whine.Repeat (@MomWhineRepeat) February 8, 2022
https://twitter.com/breea16/status/1493035434288549890
My 14 had good flow rapping along to the halftime show, so I feel like I wasn't a total failure as a parent. #superbowl
— Andrew Donaldson (@four4thefire) February 14, 2022
My 8yo recognized almost all of the #SuperBowl halftime show songs and I feel like both the best and okayest parent at the same time 😂
— Cynthia Diindiisikwe Connolly (@cynconnolly) February 14, 2022
Regardless of our kids’ reactions, though, we couldn’t help but feel our age just a little bit.
Now I know how my parents felt when they saw one of the Beatles & The Who perform at a Halftime show a few years ago. I feel like a dinosaur watching other dinosaurs perform this Super Bowl Halftime Show.
I wanna offer all of these performers some ibuprofen for their joints.
— 🐰Bunny🐰 (@Synaptic_Rabbit) February 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/zamartin/status/1493031134174883840
I used to wonder why the #SuperBowl halftime show often was geared for my parents’ generation. This year it’s absolutely targeting my generation. This can only mean one thing. #ImOld
— Matt Butler (@Eptorgan) February 14, 2022
Now I know how my parents felt watching Super Bowl halftime shows with Bruce, U2, and The Who
— Chris Vance 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@Chrisvance123) February 14, 2022
It's a humbling sign of age when the acts you loved as a teenager, partly because they made suburban parents nervous, are now headlining the super bowl halftime show.
— Andrew Bloom (@TheAndrewBlog) February 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/ChristinJerome/status/1493043324881625091
I’m “my parents wouldn’t let me buy the #SuperBowl halftime performer’s album when I was the same age my kids are now” years old. pic.twitter.com/emb2xvnVNb
— Christian Dashiell (@DashTheTweeter) February 14, 2022
Omg yall. I remember when Diana Ross was the Super Bowl Halftime show and my parents were JAMMIN’ to it. My dumb ass was like “old people”. And now I’m on the old end of that parable with this #HalfTimeShow 😂😂😂😂
— Percy Thee Dog. (@CdnPercy) February 14, 2022
… But in an odd twist, it also made us feel a little bit young again. Especially when it came to seeing and hearing the reactions of our own parents. Who knew our music of choice could still piss them off?!
*Me trying to explain the cultural significance of this years superbowl halftime line up to my parents pic.twitter.com/zXrsHkoZX4
— Saint Jesse (@saintjesse919) February 14, 2022
When I agreed to come to my parents Super Bowl party with their friends, I underestimated how many times I’d be asked “Who is that?” during the halftime show
— only kind of rad (@julianne_terese) February 14, 2022
As a millennial who was facetiming with her boomer parents during the superbowl halftime show, I just need to say thank you to whoever decided on that lineup. 1. For bringing me back and 2. For pissing my parents right off for no good reason. #SuperBowl#HalfTimeShow#boomers
— Janel Roberge (she/her) (@janel_roberge) February 14, 2022
Meanwhile my parents watching #SuperBowl halftime. pic.twitter.com/jmi7CzBn2o
— Ryan Fowler (@FulltimeFowler) February 14, 2022
The real drama of the Super Bowl… my parents & their 70 -something friends reaction to the halftime show 🤣
— The Nebulous C-R-A-I-G (@CLennyWiebs) February 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/alexis_coning/status/1493087232575614976
There’s nothing like a heavy dose of teenage nostalgia to remind us that our own kids really aren’t that different than we were at their age. And that we’re a whole lot cooler than they give us credit for.
Age 30-45: best halftime show ever. Under 30: this old school crap is lame. 45 and older: what terrible music. Basically, we know we are awesome, our kids think we are lame, and our parents still don’t understand our music. #SuperBowl#HalfTimeShow
— Brent (@BrentKeyes) February 14, 2022
Leave a Comment