Bratz Attack

These moments come and go.

Every so often Lydia gets into something that I am horrified by.

This isn't the "I'm horrified, but really sort of happy" moment like when your daughter begins to love salamanders and caterpillars and tries to kiss them or expresses interest in playing ice hockey.

It's more the "I want pom poms to be a real cheerleader" moments.

The Cinderella obsession of age three followed by the Princess period of age four were easy enough to deal with. I liked princesses as a kid and I agree it is fun to have a costume of every character down to Pocahontas (yes she is a princess be it a less popular one). I even feel like I am to blame for this Disney saturation in some ways. It's sweet and cute to see your little one in a baby blue sparkly ball gown, it makes them look like one of those weird paintings of a royal child in the 1500's.

It is a little upsetting that most Disney princesses are waiting to be rescued by princes and usually the only friends they have are animals. I won't even bring up the mother abandonment hang ups. But all of this I can blow off as theatrics and drama, it adds to the story. Lydia has never even mentioned a prince, she really doesn't seem bothered. The mother issue also went under the radar. She loves to talk to animals and is forever dressing her lions and rabbit's in tutu's and gowns, but this doesn't seem to be a precursor for adult hang ups. Of course the self absorbed mother in me would love to think, "she could care less about those Disney Diva's". But I've been trying to remember (and remember and remember...) that she has her own taste and this taste needs to be respected. And in most cases she has better taste than I do anyway.

Now enter the Bratz. You know them, the big head /little body, lips lined in dark purple, street walker ensemble dolls. I have avoided them at all cost. I will not even entertain the idea of buying one. I've used many excuses: "Santa doesn't make lady of the night dolls" and "those are way too expensive, it costs a lot to get a doll that looks that cheap".

It worked for a while. That is until Lydia got a $25.00 Target gift card to spend on her own and has begun to read prices. Now she has decided she wants Neveah (someone had to fill me in that this is Heaven spelled backwards) and Peyton, a set of twin good girl/ bad girl Bratz. Will these dolls destroy her body image or turn her into a tart (Steven's words not mine). I doubt it. Will she think that this is what women should look like? Probably not. So I let her order them online.

The irony of the situation is, the gift card is from my re-born christian uncle. Can't wait for him to get a picture of the toy in the thank you card.