You may have heard by now that Lego has come out with a new line designed specifically for girls.

And you know, I’m good with that. I think that even though the concept of Lego is universal, not every girl wants to build police cars and assault vehicles and whatnot.

But this?

This seems just a bit too genderized for me. I don’t have a problem with having things like the tree house or the pet house, but why oh why does everything have to have pink and purple? Could they have not launched the new sets with regular colors?

This is an old advertisement from the 70′s (I think) in which the girl, admittedly a bit tomboy-ish looking, is holding a creation built out of standard Lego bricks.

What happened between then and now?

I had my own Lego sets in the 70′s, and granted, it was a “house” set with a kitchen and living room, but I loved it. It wasn’t pink or purple or glittery, and yet it was one of my favorite toys.

Imagine that!

According to an article in the LA Times, some schools in Britain are sick and tired of the “skirt creep” that some young girls are wont to do and are solving the problem by banning skirts altogether.

As someone who was FORCED to wear skirts EVERY SINGLE DAY for all twelve of my school years (uh, not including college, natch) I applaud this decision heartily.

Skirts, as school wear, generally suck.

Nothing is more miserable than having to wear a skirt in cold, rainy weather.  And tights don’t quite cut it in the warmth department.  In fact, we were not allowed to wear tights, only socks.  I remember attempting to pull my thick wool skirt over the tops of my knees outside at lunch in order to keep my kneecaps from becoming frostbitten.  I was in Southern California, so it wasn’t actually all that cold, but try telling that to my poor, shivering kneecaps.

Also, nothing is more embarrassing than having your skirt fly up, and this can happen due to more reasons than you would think.  Bloomers are an option, as are bike shorts, but can get uncomfortable sitting in class all day long.

So, in cold weather, pants for the win!

In hot weather, culottes do the trick.  Practically impossible to roll up by the waistband (unless you like having a seam embedded in your crotch all day, and hey, maybe some people do) and equally impossible to roll up the legs.

I know, because all my friends and I tried.

Not because Mr. Beckham is a talented soccer player/underwear model.

And also not because he is married to Posh Spice.

He is jealous of David Beckham because mere days after the birth of his daughter, he is surfing.

You see, my husband barely saw the light of day when I was recovering from both of my C-sections.  I think he went out of the house to possibly buy diapers and get me food.

Being rich does indeed have its privileges.

47% of you agreed that summer camps are a bit on the expensive side. 15% said that they weren’t sure, but the $800 a week robotics camp I mentioned sounded a bit pricey.  And then, a full 36% of you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and chastised me for expecting a robotics camp to be cheap.  Well, I hope all 36% of you are feeling better today.

Of all the official royal wedding pictures, the one making the most impact is the one where young flower girl Grace van Cutsem is doing a bit of a glower and covering her ears whilst the newlyweds kiss.   Young Grace has become the hottest internet meme (although with the news of the death of Bin Laden, she might be usurped by tomorrow) around.  But, is it appropriate in the first place?

When asked last week about A & F’s push up bikini top for girls, you responded with an overwhelming “WTF!?” Only nine percent of you thought it wasn’t that big of a deal. I beg to differ with that nine percent, though. This type of product is yet another in a long line of products that sexualizes our young girls. I’m not even cool with regular old bikini tops for 8 year olds, much less padded, push up ones.

We’ve discussed this topic a bit before, but Consumerist reports that airline Ryanair advertised their intention to start “child-free” flights starting in October.  Now, this was released on April 1, so let’s take that with a grain of salt.  However, it is an interesting idea, is it not?

When the Munchkin left toddlerhood, I packed away many of his DVD’s as he considered them too “babyish.”

I heaved a sigh of regret as I boxed up The Wiggles.

You see, for many a mom, Anthony the Blue Wiggle is the bright spot in a sea of mind-numbing toddler programming.  When your choices boil down to screechy red monsters, blue dogs that don’t talk, purple dinosaurs and trains with faces that don’t move, The Wiggles start looking mighty appealing.

You’ve got Murray, the earnest, goofy one.   Then you’ve got Jeff, the serial narcoleptic.  Then comes the lead singer, which used to be Greg, the nice tall one.  Now you’ve got Sam, who has a fine tenor and is light on his toes.  Anthony?  Well, he’s the hot one.

He made watching four grown men do aerobics to songs like “Hot Potato” and “Get Ready to Wiggle” semi-bearable. 

But my son refused to watch the DVD’s once he hit preschool, and there was no point in having them take up space in the house, so banished to the garage they were.

My pregnancy with our daughter six years later caught us by surprise. I had thought I would never experience another toddlerhood again.

Yet, here I am.  My daughter loves to dance and loves music.  So what else fits as naturally for her as The Wiggles, I ask?  I eagerly dug the DVD’s out of the garage, not to mention bookmarked a couple of the vidoes on YouTube. 

And there he was, in all his glory.

Anthony of the blue eyes and salt and pepper hair.

Hello, gorgeous.

Much ado is being made about Amy Chua’s recent piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” Tell us how you really feel, Ms. Chua.

I have to say upfront that I truly know nothing about Chinese parenting methods, and the little I do know comes from reading Amy Tan novels.  Which could possibly be the same as nothing.

But what strikes me about the article is the strident nature of Ms. Chua’s superiority.  And in a sense, I suppose she is correct in saying her parenting style has produced results.  Her daughter has apparently played piano at Carnegie Hall, which is a wonderful accomplishment. My son, on the other hand, has played the tambourine (badly) for an audience comprised solely of his baby sister. So I suppose she is at least one up on me there.

She does say that the term “Chinese mother” does not necessarily apply only to people of Chinese ancestry, but is rather describing a certain parenting style.  This is opposed to “Western parenting” which she says can also be anyone of any ancestry.

That being said, I fall firmly in the Western category, and I’m not ashamed of it.

I cannot bring myself to dictate to my son what his interests should or shouldn’t be.  Ms. Chua states that she only allowed her daughters to study piano or violin, no other instruments were considered.  I can’t imagine doing that to my son.  I mean, I might be depriving the world of a world-class tambourine player if I did so.

This part of her story, though, did resonate with me:

First, I’ve noticed that Western parents are extremely anxious about their children’s self-esteem. They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children’s psyches. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.

I think she might have a little something there.  It is possible that Western parents are too worried about self-esteem.  I mean, hello everybody-gets-a-trophy sports!

The way in which she describes going about motivating her youngest child to master a particularly different piano piece, however, seem a bit over the top to me.   But, a book needs to be sold, does it not?

But that must be the sloth mother in me.

I’m going to overcome my weak Western parenting style, ASAP.

Tambourine practice, seven days a week.  I hope the Munchkin is ready for it.

Do I think it is a good idea for my children to learn another language? Emphatically, yes. I, along with almost every other parent I know, do not wish to see my child crushed in whatever future global competitive job market that is coming.  An acquaintance of mine has a child that is tri-lingual, speaking English, Arabic, and Spanish.  This, of course, makes me  feel anxiety that my kids are going to be left in the multi-cultural dust.

And that is why toy manufacturers have jumped on the bilingual bandwagon with toys like this, this and of course, this.

Of course you can buy them just for simple exposure to another language (and by extension, another culture), but if you are truly looking to teach your child another language, don’t fool yourself that these will do the trick. 

You might be better off getting some flashcards, but I would recommend a) having someone fluent in the language speak to your child on a regular basis or failing that, b) classes.  If your child is a bit older, something like this will probably do the trick, as second language courses in public elementary/middle schools have already gone the way of the dodo due to budget cuts, if they were ever there to begin with.

Let’s face it, your child is not going to become fluent in Spanish just because she presses a few buttons once or twice a day that sing “rojo” and “verde.” Trust me on this one.