Before I get into this, I have to ask my fellow New Jersey parents. Are there any new trends happening with today's kids and teens that I'm completely unaware of?

I'm not talking about the words and phrases that are used. I'm talking about when random items are spotted hanging out of nowhere.

Think about the shoes in power lines. Typically when you see that, it tends to mean gang activity. At least, that's what most of us were taught it means.

It's like a territorial thing. You see sneakers hanging in power lines and it usually signals to other groups or gangs that that area is claimed.

Now I'm not saying what we saw in the power lines around this school is that. In fact, none of us know what the heck it meant. Maybe you know?

Street light / NJ power lines
Mike Brant - TSM
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Quite the head-scratcher

We first noticed this at pickup time. Right outside the gate where the kids came out, there were two sets of earmuffs hanging from the power lines.

What's strange is that nobody seemed to notice anything the day before. They legit appeared to have just shown up overnight.

Not sneakers. Not balloons. Not anything that would indicate utility work was going on. But actual earmuffs that looked like they belonged to kids.

What's even more impressive is how they were hanging. You just can't throw these up like you would with a pair of shoes.

Earmuffs hanging in power lines outside a NJ school
Mike Brant - TSM
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How did they get there?

Earmuffs aren't completely open toward the bottom, which got everyone scratching their heads. If they were thrown up there, then that's a very impressive feat, to say the least.

Parents, kids, and teachers alike were all puzzled by this. Did someone scale the pole and put them up there?

Did someone drive by with a tall vehicle or use a long pole to do this? At this time, nobody really knows.

Earmuffs dangling from power lines at a NJ school
Mike Brant - TSM
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New gang activity?

As mentioned above, when we see shoes hanging from power lines, that usually signals some sort of gang activity. Or, it could also signal teens just being teens.

Could the dangling earmuffs mean the same thing? I mean, they look too perfectly placed to have just been tossed up there.

Or, could this potentially mean something completely different? Yes, it's just earmuffs, but you never know if there's a deeper meaning to it or what it actually signals.

If you have any ideas please feel free to share them. There's also the possibility that means absolutely nothing and it was just someone having some fun. But whoever did it sure got a lot of heads scratching.

Earmuffs dangling from power lines at a NJ school
Mike Brant - TSM
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THAT'S SUS! Slang kids and teens now say and what the heck it means

According to a comprehensive list from yourteenmag.com, these are some of the slang words and phrases kids and teenagers are using today that some older generations might not understand.

Gallery Credit: Mike Brant

Income that a family of 4 needs in every NJ county

Here’s what MIT’s Living Wage Calculator says a couple with two children needs in each New Jersey county to simply squeak by.

Gallery Credit: MIT Living Wage Calculator

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.

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