My children have discovered one of the secrets of my youth. Hard as it may be to believe now, I occasionally had Barbie-doll dreams. Sometimes, I even put some work into those dreams, lame as the goals may seem now. The result is secret talents to which I rarely admit. But Kat suddenly needs one of them and so, it�s mom to the rescue, and I find myself doing something I never thought I�d do. I am teaching the girls how to twirl a baton.

I can�t do flaming batons and I never got the throws down but, luckily, there is no real call for that level of talent. The type of right-hand, left-hand, in front of the body, over the head twirls I can do is what Kat needs to do. I can do barely credible use of knees and backs of hands but she doesn�t need that level of sophistication. She just has to look competent.

Kat is trying out for the part of Patty Simcox in �Grease.� I hate the play but that�s my problem, not hers. She�s looking to be Patty because she has the �sweet and pure� looks for that type of part and a freshman will never get the lead. Kat recognizes that her looks are wrong for most of the character parts so Patty it is. Patty is a terminally perky cheerleader and student council gal who twirls a baton on stage. So we�ve bought a baton and lessons have begun.

Attitudes aside, I�d find teaching this task difficult. Kat has poor motor planning. In more direct language, the kid is a klutz who can�t learn physical tasks just by watching them. The more you can put the task into words, the better she is likely to do. Once she gets it, she has to work and work to get out the odd pauses that show you that the thing is not automatic�and Patty does her twirling automatically.

But I can�t put attitudes aside. I�m not one to believe that women should never do anything frivolous but I didn�t raise my daughter to stand there, look cute, wear white boots, and be a baton-twirler. I didn�t raise her to care more about how she looks than what she thinks.

I�m not very worried about Kat. She knows why she is learning and she has her feet on the ground (although it would help if she would stop biting her tongue while concentrating.) It�s Day-Hay�s relish of the challenge that gives me pause. I sure hope she love the physical challenge of making it work. I do hope it�s not the glitz and the aura of popularity I used to think the baton could confer on me.

Oh, well, if Day-Hay gets serious, I suppose I could send her to live with Maxiegirl in Texas. She�d fit right in�and I can see Sister twirling behind her now.

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