Parenting

JoJo Siwa Is Basically A Hero For Keeping Her Social Media Kid-Friendly

by Christina Marfice
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

The reason JoJo Siwa dresses and acts like a kid is actually so pure

JoJo Siwa does not act like a typical 16-year-old, that is for sure. Try telling your 16-year-old daughter that she needs to dress like Lisa Frank and Rainbow Brite had a neon colored, glittery, sequined love child, and she’s likely to roll her eyes all the way into outer space. But JoJo Siwa does it every day, and tops the look off with a side pony and a giant, colorful bow. And the reason is so pure.

It turns out Siwa doesn’t actually mind dressing that way, and she wishes more teens would embrace their own age, rather than try to act older. In an interview with Today’s Natalie Morales, she said part of being true to herself is acting her own age, which, at 16, is still a kid.

“I see people who are my age and who are acting a lot older and who are trying to be someone or something that they’re not,” she said. “And it’s just so sad to me because I just don’t understand why when you’re 15 are you trying to be 22?”

It probably doesn’t hurt that Siwa’s entire fanbase is a lot younger than she is, and she is an absolute mogul when it comes to her image, merchandising and reaching those fans. Seriously, have you seen that video of her house? It has like, three rooms just for storing all her various merchandise, and her face is plastered on everything in every other room, too.

What’s really refreshing about JoJo Siwa is that she knows her fan base is young, and she really feels a responsibility to do right by the kids who look up to her. She recently turned off comments on her Instagram account, which means she lost an entire channel for interacting directly with her fans. But in her interview, she explained why she did it, and it’s so pure.

“I have a fan base that ranges from four to thirteen,” she said. “Those kids are young. Those kids are so young, and people on Instagram comments use such bad language. I don’t want the five-year-olds on their mom’s phone looking at those.”

And that is what every mom wants to hear from the YouTube star her kids are obsessed with. She’s actively taking steps to keep her social media kid-friendly, even though social media is often not a kid-friendly place overall. Excuse me, Hollywood/the internet, can more celebs follow this example, please?

We’ll have to see what happens as Siwa continues to grow up, but she insists she has no plans to change her image.

“The bow will always be a part of my life. I’ll be that bow girl until I’m 70!” she said.

Hey, there are far worse things to be than “that bow girl,” and the look is clearly working for her. Here’s to five more decades of sparkly, bow-topped JoJo Siwa.

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