Friggin Big Bird
At gymnastics the kids have 'show & tell' when class is over. Then they get stamps. Today was the start of a new session and since the old teacher had a conflict, one of the teenagers took over her class. So come stamp time, the teacher announced, "The girls can have Ariel." At this point I started itching to intervene. I told Danielle I was blanking on an appropriate way to tell the girl that whatever the girls got was fine for my boy and she knew trouble was a-broiling. Bella got Ariel, the other girl wanted a princess...and then...the teacher moved to put the stamper back in the bucket. I could hold back no longer. "Jacob likes princesses, he'd wouldn't mind that one." I couldn't help myself. Hello? We have princess toothpaste and a bunch of other princess stuff to go with it. Jacob is more likely to pick a princess-themed item than any other character at any given moment. I was not just saying this to be an uber-radical bitch. The girl gave me a look that made me want to...well I won't get into it, this is a PG-13 post.
I just couldn't take it so I left to fill up my water bottle and waited for Jacob to be done. We exited to the bathroom so he could pee and wash his hands and there I inspected the stamp. Big Bird. You have got to be kidding me.
Labels: kid stuff
posted by xmas @ 7:15 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I winced the first time I was asked at McD's if I wanted a boy or girl happy meal. I thought - when did silly little plastic toys become gender-coded? I worked in McD's 25 years ago and there was no such thing. I guess not much progress has been made - or maybe we are going in reverse? Just a thought.
How did the gender divisions evolve into something so messed up that it's a faux pas to let the 'wrong' sex so much as handle something meant for their gender-counterparts??
Maybe it's just an excuse to market TWICE as much stuff to our kids than they could get away with before.
I think you are exactly right that marketing has a lot to do with it. Hand-me-downs from brother to sister just won't do. We need to buy new stuff for the younger sister. Hard not to be cynical sometimes!
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