BirthWrite - Beeswaxing

It's been a busy week for birthday's - my daughter was 5 this week, and we parents faced the Dilemma of the Bees. The first B is for Barbie and whether they are suitable for young girls. We think they are ok. Yes few female homo sapiens actually possess pegs of such proportions, but this seems a harmless exageration, and the doll itself is actually rather bland and generic - perfect for a child whose main interest is dressing and undressing something. And the clothes to do so are roughly the kind that law-abiding, ordinary women might wear. Compare that with the next Bee on offer - Bratz. Bratz goes way beyond dress-up. Bratz come with lips, eyes, attitude and clothes that make Courtney Love look like she's off to have tea with the Queen. Their web site says it all - as the Flash code is loading, the as-you-wait message is "please wait...it takes time to look this good".

We won't be buying Bratz for our Beloved. We're worried about the killer Bees - body image, and, naturally, Boys. Five is way too early to be concerned with these bees - but that's the point. What the Bratz and their ilk threaten to do is to prematurely have young girls concerned about how ideal their bodies are and starting to see boys as something other than classmates who like Spiderman. I think perhaps we should give our girls the chance to grow up first, and as they do, experience the wonders of the world beyond bodies and boys. That's our goal for our girl, anyway. In the meantime, we're boycotting Bratz (and Flash players!).