outside the (toy) box

Nope, not blogging. That would be very very bad, seeing as how I am diligently writing my book and no longer succumbing to the heaven that is the blogosphere. Sniff.

I drop by only to say that I am still going to this and if anyone else out there is attending and wants to get together, I would love it.  In fact, I’m hoping to have many drinks with some of my favorite people in bloggyland and YOU are also invited. Just send me an email to mom at outside-the-toybox dot com so that I know you are attending!  You’ll know me by my bright yellow coat.

On other fronts, you may remember that I bought my daughter a set of rubber Disney princesses (not a big deal for me, no, not at all) and I thought it worth mentioning that they were a complete flop.  They got exactly zero special adoration when they were opened and have been played with 4 times in 3 months, three of which were games initiated by me. 

We played princess book group, princess soccer game, and princess presidential deabte, complete with voting.  Thing 1 voted for Sleeping Beauty because she liked her committment to raising teacher salaries as a central part of the solution to improving education in America (yes, really).  Ariel was a crummy moderator, but I liked that because it was r e a l i s t i c (remember the “Diamonds or Pearls” question? Gag. barf. snort.).  We used a portable phone for the voting booth - it was perfect, we could waddle their little 3 inch princess behinds right up and push a button.

Those three play sessions were in January. Then, the princesses lay dormant (and all was right in the universe).  Finally, 4 or 5 days ago, the baby found them in the toy bin and he waddled them over to his sister.  You know what she did?  She brought them to me and said, “Can we play that voting game again?” (and the crowd goes wild).

I also am pleased to report that I have had some success with Scholastic, Thing 1’s school is dropping them and Scholastic knows why.  What’s more, I get the impression that the company senses a rising tide of frustration with the commercialism.  So, if you have pent up rage, by all means let your school know and let Scholastic know.  There is critical mass accumulating and if the criticism beccomes great enough that they begin to get shut out of schools, they will have no choice but to respond. 

Not everything is cheery though.  Thing 1 has started categorizing everything that sits still as “boy things” or “girl things,”  she recently described marriage to me as the “man picking the prettiest girl to be his wife,” to which I very calmly replied:

and my wonderful nanny recently told me about a friend who asked her pediatrician what to do because her son kept asking for a stroller.  Not a boy with a stroller!  Someone DO something!

So, you know, I’m still here - living it.  Just like you.  I can’t wait to return –  Till then, please email if you are going to the summit! 

So, as I indicated a couple posts ago, dh and I decided we needed to deploy some princess in order to keep them from gaining even more power.  I keep picturing Thing 1 morphed freakishly into Smeagol/Gollum from Lord of the Rings, lopsidedly lumbering, knuckles dragging, after someone wearing a Little Mermaid backpack, seething woundedly after it,”my precious…”

Since I saw it as a strategic decision, part of my larger project of keeping childhood freer, I was okay with it.  But the other day I stood in Sears, looking at the “stuff” and I was just dumbfounded.  Read the complete Post.

Tree of Knowledge dropped a little goodie from heaven, two lists of alternative princess books that I thought many of you with daughters (or little gift recipents, anyway, in Eszter’s case) might also be happy to know about. 

First, an anti-princess reading list (you have to look for it on the sidebar, it doesn’t pop up) that includes many ideas that some of you have mentioned along the way as well as several new finds. Super.

Second, a best princess list. Eureka!  Tree, where have you been all my life?

 Okay, so I know Christmas is supposed to be about love, family, and the birth of Christ and what not, but it’s also about PRESENTS! 

I know this sounds odd from someone who has issues with consumerism, but over the last couple weeks I have been thinking alot about my daughter and how much I want her to have that moment when she walks downstairs Christmas morning and sees IT.  The gift she has always wanted from Santa. 

Don’t you remember that?  Oh, the rollerskates!  Oh, the Barbie dream house! I wanted that Barbie dream house so badly and there. it. was. In my living room.  Thank you Santa.

Don’t get me wrong, I want holidays that are a much more than gifts, and I want the gifts to be in moderation, and I do want them to be gifts I feel good about. 

Here is where I found the challenge.  Read the complete Post.

I’m trying a new, strategy of doing work at work (innovative, no?), so this is a covert post. (Cue Mission Impossible theme music)

The last 2 days I actually gave my husband a promise over a handshake that I would not go online even for a second at the office. And, because I never, ever break a promise, I really didn’t (no one more amazed than me). But, today he forgot to make me promise (SQUEEEE!!!), so here I am. The shame, the shame… (ba-wah-ha-ha)

In all seriousness, I’ll make this quick to retain the spirit of the effort. I just had to mention that Thing 1 asked me to play her favorite “Christmas song,” Chanukkah, O, Read the complete Post.

Thanks to Lisa, over at Corporate Babysitter for these two gross posts that have my anti-childhood commercialism mind reeling.  ARGH. 

First, commenting on Shrek’s outrageous full throttle marketing blitz and near complete ownership of the Macy’s Day Parade, she goes exploring at amazon and finds: Read the complete Post.

Hmmm. I am summoning the powers of teh internets to help me strategize.

My daughter goes to a wonderful, wonderful preschool that impresses me every day. The profoundly qualified and committed teachers, the curriculum, the director, the families - it’s a place that I feel great about. Not only do they provide a rich setting and ample resources for social and intellectual development, they are also very progressive and deal brilliantly with issues of diversity - racial and ethnic, class, gender, ability, family structure etc etc.

The only complaint I have is that they currently Read the complete Post.

Okay, so I need to get to work, but sometimes you have moments, you know?

I get Blender magazine.  Not maybe what you’d expect, but people are funny.  At any rate, this was the cover photo that I found on my doorstep today:

In case you do other things with your leisure time, that’s the former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls (and also former member of “Eden’s Crush” — remember them?) who is now releasing her solo album.  At any rate, I grabbed it just as Thing 1 said, what was on that “maz-a-geen”? I said - nothing - just a picture that was pretty inappropriate.  “I saw it” she giggles.  Most of the time the cover is fine, but I’m pissed at Blender, and at myself.

I distracted her with a different piece of mail – from her younger cousin — she opened it - it was a thank you card.  This thank you card to be specific: Read the complete Post.

Advertisers generally respond to critiques of marketing to kids by calling it an issue of parental responsibility. If you don’t want your kids to see advertising, just don’t let them watch TV.  Simple as that. 

I’ve tried it — it helps  a lot. Thing 1 has never seen commercial television, and I also work hard to keep her out of shopping environments (sometimes with comic outcomes…).  I have also tried to have playdates at parks and playgrounds or museums or sporting events instead of at other kids’ homes where the world of Disney, Bratz, etc. may reign supreme.

Well, Friday, Thing 1 had her first playdate at a friends’ home.  Janie is Read the complete Post.

She picked Charlotte’s Web!  SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s another princess-free Halloween!  SQUEEEE!!!! I did NOT use coercion or bribery of any sort — and I have survived even this without ever uttering one bad word about princesses to my daughter.  I save those for you all. And the people I work with. And my students. And my husband. And the mail carrier. And the dog… Read the complete Post.