The difference between girls and boys

So, with holidays coming (both my Islamic one, and my family's Christmas one), it was time to go out and do shopping. I have 3 nieces and another on the way. This is great...easy. I also have a daughter, and 2 sons. This is not so easy.

I was able to leave the kids home with their father while I ran out to get gifts. Now, I normally shop for toys for kids under 4 (which can generally be anything, boys will play with girl stuff and vice-versa). However, my son is almost 6 and is most definitely above the "preschool" level of toys.

I wander into Walmart and am faced with 6 aisles of toys for girls. There is make up, Barbies, babies of all kinds , dress up clothes, easy bake ovens, those trashy "I wanna be a hooker" Bratz things, Little Pet Shop, beading crafts, knitting crafts, nail art crafts, there is drawing stuff, painting stuff, and glitter making stuff. All packaged in various shads of pink and teal and all with an overly-happy young girl, smiling till her cheeks hurt on the front. Picking up my 4 girl gifts was nothing, I had such variety, I was able to choose a gift that didn't go against my beliefs about what little girls should and shouldn't play with.

Then...it was on to the "boy" section. What a depressing thing this was. There was literally 1 2/3 of an aisle. I guess you could call it 2 full aisles, but one aisle was literally 1/3 sports balls. I understand that boys do play sports, but considering that they put pink soccer balls and footballs with Barbie in there too, I'm not calling it a "boy" section.

The boy's aisle consisted of one full length of matchbox cars and their accessories (ie, race tracks). This aisle was opposite the trampy Barbies. On the other side of the car isle was Transformers (possibly 1 body width worth), then Starwars figures (again, 1 body-width), then some GI Joes (same amount as the first two). The rest of the aisle was for Bakugon. I have no idea how these things work, but my guy is interested in these things and Transformers. Opposite to that was the boys "dress up" section. Meaning, it held things like a Transformer Head that you could put over your own, swords and guns. Yay.

I think it's pathetic how we push these sexist things on girls. We are basically teaching our girls that they have to look pretty, be skinny and be "homey" (motherly with babies, cooking, etc). Why are we teaching them to dress up like "ladies of the night??" Why are we teaching them to set such low limits??

And boys -- no wonder there's an issue with vandalism and violence. These poor boys are bored to death with next to nothing to play with...unless....I know, let's give them fake weapons so that they can grow up beating the snot out of each other....great practice for when they're older.

TV Shows

I was talking with my cousin recently, and she mentioned to me that I tend to have a loathing for a lot of the children's shows out there. Even some of the more popular ones such as *gasp* The Wiggles or Dora.

I'll break it down into sections....

The first types of shows that I really hate are clay-mation. I don't know what it is about this art form, but I do NOT like it. Not even that one where Mel Gibson played the lead "chicken"...nope, not a fan of it at all. This means that I do not like watching ANY of the following:

1. Bob the builder
2. Fifi and the Flowerpots
   
3. Odd Jobbers

There are two exceptions -- these being Dragon and Pocoyo.


The second type of show that I really hate (and I mean to the extent that it does not come on in my house at any time for any reason) are the shows that have grown adults dressed up in costumes. This includes, but is certainly not limited to:

1. Teletubbies
2. In the Night Garden
3. The Wiggles
4. Barney <--- oh how I hate to even write this name down.

I don't really know what it is about these characters that I don't like but something bothers me. Perhaps I just imagine that there is some giant freaky pedophile inside those things. My other MAJOR loathing with Teletubbies and Night Garden especially, is the fact that they don't even speak correctly. Why are they promoting their shows as "educational programs" when you are saying things like "tubby custard" or "nika-pika-poo"?? Nothing, NOTHING bothers me more than baby talk (delivered by an adult, that is).

I also have to add a foot note to this. I used to lump Yo Gabba Gabba in with this group --- but after catching a few episodes of it on TV, it's really not that bad. The music is "cool"(and believe me, you're preschooler is able to know that Wiggles is so not cool, but that the music on Yo-Gabba is) and the messages delivered are really good. Eat well, be nice, it's okay to be scared, etc... The giant walking vibrator is still a little disturbing to me, but whatever...


There are some shows which are nice, educational and such, but for some reason or another just drive me nuts.

1. Dora/Diego <-- way too much SHOUTING, SHOUTING, SHOUTING in high pitched voices!
2. Toot & Puddle <-- this one is a neat show, but those pigs remind me of gremlins after they've been dumped in the pool.
3. Toopy & Binoo <-- I like this one, I do. I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed that Toopy is a cross-dresser though?? (not that there's anything wrong with that!)
4. Daniel Cook <-- Can you say obnoxious?!

I also don't like a lot of shows that other people would think are wonderful.

1. Franklin goes here, because I think that he is a whiny little thing who is snarky and rude.
2. Rolie Polie Olie goes here too, because I can't stand the gender stereotypes that they have in it.
   
3. 4 Square also fits here -- there isn't anything about this show that I do like -- from the guys with potatoes in their tights teaching young children ballet, to the freaky wall-eyed "do-was", I haven't found a positive point in it (that I'm able to tolerate over all the negative).

However, there are some great shows. I really enjoy, really, there are!

1. Backyardigans, this is a Canadian show (Yay, go Canada!), where you've got 4 little neighborhood friends who meet in the back yard and carry out fantastical imaginative adventures. What's wrong with using our imagination, folks??
2. Elmo's World and/or Sesame Street. These shows teach...for real. What's wrong with that???
   
3. Roll Play -- this show is fantastic! Not only are children learning imagination, story telling and dramatics, they are also exercising (I dare you to have a preschooler watch this show and make him sit on the couch the whole time!)
4. My Friend Rabbit -- I like this one because all the characters are misfits of some form or another, yet they are all accepted for what they can (or can't) do, and there is no blame placed on anyone. Also, it's very creative how the writers have them overcome their faults.
5. Emily Yeung -- the "newer" version of Daniel Cook. Only with manners that aren't forced.

So...what are your thoughts?? Am I way off base? Do you agree, disagree, think that I'm from Mars??

From the mouths of babes....

As a dayhome provider, I am blessed with seeing the world through the lives of children every day. Sometimes, that is a wonderful thing, other times....not so much. The following is an odds and ends list of funny things the children have said to me over the last few weeks.

1. When talking about the games that I used to play when I was young, daughter looked up at me and said "Why do they call it the olden days?" (for the record, I did not say "in the olden days" -- keep in mind, she's 8 and has heard of "the olden days" from sources other than me).
Anyhow, I answered her with, "well, I guess because they happened a long time ago"
Her reply "Well, I think it should be called, 'The Youngun Days', because they happened when real old people were young."

2. I have a Toddler in Dayhome, he's adorable and loving. I thought to myself "hmmm...he's big enough to try to feed himself now." So I gave him a spoon and a bowl (barely filled) with macaroni in it. He promptly put the spoon into the bowl and .... sort of stirred it. Then, when he saw that I was sitting at the table and not feeding him, he started yelling, "HEY.....hedder! Hedder? HEDDER!?!!" After laughing (yes, I laughed at him!) I fed him his lunch!

3. I also have a little preschooler in care. She's adorable (and new to my home). First day here, and I think "I don't want to shock her too much" so I serve her relatively 'normal' snacks (usually, I have very healthy things, like asparagus and such). We ate yogurt for morning snack, had some chicken and spaghetti for lunch, and for afternoon snack, I thought I'd make ants on a log. Little did I know that I was out of raisins....so I thought that I'd add the healthy and beneficial prune to the mix. Yes folks, I said prune. They are healthy, sweet and delicious. One prune is really a healthier equivalent of a handful of raisins. Little S runs to her spot at the table when I call for snack...suddenly, she stops and starts crying...
"What's wrong?" I ask her.
"I don't wanna eat poop!" she wails and points to the black, shriveled up prune, "I don't like poop!"

4. One evening, my kids are super quiet. That's usually a sign of major problems for me. I tip toe down the stairs and find that they are just watching TV. "What are you watching?" I ask.
"Scooby Doo" my son replies.
"in human!!" my daughter exclaims.

5. A few weeks ago, dayhome girl was very upset...somehow she'd gotten into her mind that her 23 yr old mother was so old that she would soon die. In attempting to reassure her that in fact, mommy was very healthy and would likely live to be very old, she asks me "well," *sniff* "how old are you?"
"why, I'm only 32" I reply.
K's eyes widen to the size of teacups "Oh my, I don't think Granny is even that old!"

There are more, but I don't have the time right now! I shall add more similar posts as I gather information (and hopefully remember it!!)