Every now and then when a toy catalogue drops in our mailbox, I decide to flick past all things boy and divert to a small fix of pink. Its generally just a bit of idle browsing, without too much attention to the finer detail. Tiny tea set. Uh-huh. Fairy wings. Yeah. Plastic pony. Nice. Sparkly tiara. Yep, standard fare.
Girls toys make a pleasant diversion from trains, cars, diggers and multitude of bash-crash-dig-neee-naawww-honk-burp-rahhhhhhh toys that we have here.
But this week something caught my attention. There amongst the baby dolls, kitchen sets and dress-ups was Totally Stylin' Tattoo Barbie and Hannah Montana TAT 2 Art Pen. For ages 6+.
Huh?
Is this really what 6 year old girls are playing with now? When I was 6 I was playing with dolls and teddies. And a tattoo was some shindig at a Scottish castle where a bunch of blokes in skirts marched up and down. And frankly, I don't recall there being a 3rd Military District Bagpipe Barbie.
Clearly the little ones are far more sophisticated these days. I scanned the pages of the toy catalogue, expecting to see more toys of the same ilk. Alas, My Little Pony Racing Syndicate, Dora The Explorer My First Tax Return and Cabbage Patch Pregnancy Test Kit must still be sitting on the toy company drawing boards.
I do hear though that Sleepytime 56-star Face Stencil Kit is on its way, though.
Yep. My six year old girl loves tattoos - but the girlier the better. My two year old girl loves to draw on her arms and legs. And my arms and legs. I think that the tattoo pens are an extension of that. I have had serious talks about how these tattoos are just pretend and they come off but real ones don't.
ReplyDeleteoh blimey i'm gobsmacked by what my nearly-4yr old daughter wants to play with. those barbies, bratz with their unrealistic body shapes and stances is just the start. thank god she has a 5yr old brother to keep it all real, "lets play transformers and fairies, oh no wait what about my little pony and astroboy" phew
ReplyDeleteYou're so funny! You've managed to put a controversial topic out there, but still crack us up! My daughter is getting a bit bored of the tattoo thing, she has seen my body since she was born with 2 tattoos on it- yeah, whatever. When I grew up, if you saw a flash of your parents SKIN you got a belting- now we are a bit more relaxed, I think yeah, kids know about stuff we never did, but they do a lot of cool stuff we never did too. I always tell mum's that just because they make it doesn't mean you have to buy it- new parents must have 'sucker' on their forehead the way Baby Bunting etc thinks. It's all down to the parenting! PS My closest friend bought Sib a Bratz doll when she was 2- she never needs to know it went on Ebay!
ReplyDelete"3rd Military District Bagpipe Barbie." there should be one of those! lol maybe if I had a Barbie like that I wouldn't have gotten bored with her and used her head as a paintbrush :p
ReplyDeleteIts not introducing tattoos to kids that bugs me, its the clothing that has very sexual sayings on it that you see toddlers and 8 years old wearing that bugs me. I have no idea why parents think that those items of clothing are a good thing :/
South Park did a show on this subject - involving a certain hotel heiress and a "video play kit". Very wrong, very funny, and lots of food for thought. Very South Park.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how long I can keep Bratz and their mates a secret from my little girl... I want her to enjoy just being a little girl. She'd probably love the tattoo pens, though - it'd make a nice change from permanent marker.
Weren't we always told that we'd get ink poisoning if we drew all over ourselves?
ReplyDeleteDidn't you have those fake tattoos when you were a kid? I'm 42, and I remember them, you put them on with water. We weren't supposed to wear them to school so we'd think we were being sneaky by wearing them places that were covered up with clothing.
ReplyDeleteMy kids have two tattooed parents. :p It's not a huge leap to going after their own skin with a magic marker.
ReplyDeleteThat said, didn't EVERYONE tattoo themselves when they were kids? I know my sisters and I all did, and OUR parents weren't tattooed! lol
Hubby and I both have tattoos, but I was shocked by the Barbie tattoo toy when I saw the commercial. Definitely not cool. There are some things that don't need to be made into toys.
ReplyDeleteMy 3 year old doesn't require a special pen to give himself tattoos, he is quite happy to draw on himself with any pen he finds floating around the house!
ReplyDeleteYes, not so fond of the temporary tattoos either. I know I did them as a kid, but they are EVERYWHERE now, just as so many things we played with or movies we watched as children, that were occasional treats or fantasies, are now daily experiences.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Bratz dolls, ugh! I sort of get their appeal in that they present a more diverse face of the 12" fashion doll than perky blonde Barbie, but do they have to look slutty to do so? I was straight up with my daughter when I said, "Mommy is not buying those and we will not be playing with them. Some other moms don't mind and that's ok, but I do not like them."
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