by BabyCenter Guest Blogger posted in Parenting

By Lisa Meyers Johnson

Just recently, my daughter and I went to the Bruno Mars concert in Los Angeles. It was everything.

Bruno Mars is truly talented and reminds me so much of Michael Jackson around the time he moonwalked during the Motown 25th televised show. Bruno performs with the same intensity and passion. Aside from having great music, a good voice with range, and backup dancers and singers that take you back to the boy-band era, this young man feels the music and makes people enjoy it in a way that's truly special, like a mid-career Michael Jackson.
It's probably important to note that Michael Jackson was my childhood idol. From "Blame it on the Boogie" and "Everybody" to "Lovely One" and "Beat It," I knew almost every lyric, to every song, after first discovering him through the Off the Wall album (his best album, period). The childhood nostalgia came flooding back to me last night.  Michael Jackson was my first concert and here I was with my daughter, at her first concert. It was incredibly special. Naturally, today we are paying for it. My daughter was out too late last night, much later than I'd anticipated and both of us are slower than normal. But it was worth it. And it was a tremendous reminder to me to bend the rules occasionally and just enjoy my kids. And not just through big firsts like last night, but each day.
Chucking the responsibility of managing the family ...