I can't remember how I found out about either of these, except that I stumbled across them on the net a while ago without actually searching - although I'd long wanted to know if dollies like this even existed. been meaning to post about them here, and now it's not long before Xmas, I guess a bit of potential-pressie-talk is pretty apt ;-)
Australian Girl Doll
they're the big dolly size, and a bit on the expensive side, but they look like they're a lovely quality doll. would be nice to see one in a shop to have a proper look. I think they've mostly managed to do it without being too stereotyped, except for the Almost-Bindi.
Only Hearts Club
these are from the US, and have such a wholesomeness to them that I scoured the website for religious content. hard-hearted cynical old me! couldn't find any, though... have seen these in a couple of shops now and think they are quite lovely.
of course, neither of them do boy dolls. crap. you stumble across the occasional boy baby, but the next step seems to be overly-muscled action heroes, or violent junk. where are the nice boy dolls? girls want to play with them too.
edit: forgot about the canny marketing exercise that is Diego, Dora's boy sidekick. he's okay, I guess. not offensive, at any rate. I used to think Dora was fine until I found Dora Xmas/Princess sparkly crown/tiara-type-affairs in Coles the other day. how do you keep that on in the jungle?
Friday, November 28, 2008
dolls that don't make girls look like bimbos or whores
Monday, November 10, 2008
Big kid.
Diamond head turns four
Party timeMonday, November 03, 2008
Just one of those days
when you realise, however much you want to, you can't fix everything for your child. C was really upset today because a girl I thought was one of his best friends didn't invite him to her birthday party. He pinched an invite and insisted that she had spelled his name wrong. Really wrong because it started in G and ended in eorgia. I took the invite off him and gave it back to her. Then at the car park I made a big show of comforting him, where her mother could see. This is the bloody child that we sent C to school with so they could be together because they were such close friends. Sometimes I have regretted this and today was one of those times. It just felt like a slap in the face for both of us really. (she was invited to C's birthday earlier this year).
I'm hoping that tomorrow her Mum has had a change of heart and that there is an invite for him. I don't expect him to be invited to everyone's birthday, which is fortunate because he hasn't been, but when it's one of his supposed best friends I just don't understand why the sudden cut off. I just feel kinda crap because although I was tempted to ask her Mum, well demand really because I was so pissed off, why he wasn't invited I didn't because some battles you just can't fight for your kids. It's a horrible lesson to learn at 5 and I said, but probably shouldn't have, that if she doesn't invite him to her party then she won't be invited to his party next year. (yes I've committed myself already, fool!) No doubt this will get told to her tomorrow, probably after she hands over the invite. If not I will just pray to the gods that he forgets. Or find something else so exciting to do that weekend that he forgets all about it.
Edit: D talked to C's teacher this morning and got some more background on the story. Apparently it all flared up yesterday and she had to physically separate them. C has also been, in the teacher's words, pushing all this girl's buttons and sending her right off. I can understand now that you wouldn't want someone doing that at your birthday party. I think a long talk is in order with my young man. This is not the sort of child I would wish him to be. The first lesson is going to be 'if you aren't nice to people, they won't invite you to their birthday party'. At least there is a reason, and a pretty good reason at that.