Sometimes kids say things that are so unexpected that parents are literally left staring, open-mouthed. We may do all the right things, consider every angle and point of impact that our decisions could have on our children, and we may think we know exactly how our children will respond. But kids always find a way to surprise us. It seems like children are determined to send their parents into that wild realm of the unknown, making us doubt ourselves and worry that we are scarring them for life.
As a woman, I had my doubts about bringing Barbie in to my home. I read, soul-searched and rationalized the implications of having the iconic doll in my house. Even after all of that thinking, Barbie made her way into my girls' lives. From the musical movies where Barbie is hero to the dolls and accessories that have made her such a popular toy for decades, we bought into it all. I thought
a lot about exposing my girls to this warped image of womanhood, but was impressed by how much Mattel has done to make Barbie a confident young role model for girls. And that's why I was so surprised when I gave my daughters new Barbies as gifts and they gave me such a shocking response. It was so shocking that I felt the need to write to the Mattel Corporation about it.
"An Open Letter to the Mattel Corporation," was first featured on
Multicultural Familia and was recently picked up by
BlogHer. You can read the letter and discuss it with the huge community of women on the website
BlogHer.com, on Twitter (
@BlogHer and @
BlogHerCultures)
and on the BlogHer
Facebook page.
You can also read the original post at
MulticulturalFamilia.com, a wonderful e-zine dedicated to sharing information and ideas with modern families.
I encourage any readers wo would like to share their thoughts on Barbie to send their own letters to the Mattel Corporation. I sent this post to
corporate.communications@mattel.com and received a response from
ConsumerServiceCenter@fisher-price.com. The more they hear from concerned parents, the more likely they are to make positive changes to their products.
Have your children ever shocked you with their response to something you gave them? Have they ever shed light on a slice of humanity that you'd never before considered? Out of the mouths of babes can come some very insightful things...
Now, that post was picked up by BlogHer! I am excited to have my post featured on such a huge, thoughtful and thought-provoking site for women. I hope that others will discuss the complexities of parenting I wrote about...I still don't have any answers and can use all the help I can get! Visit BlogHer.com, follow the conversation on Twitter by following @BlogHer and @BlogHerCultures, or visit the BlogHer Facebook page to share your thoughts.
