A little Princess

I am conflicted. This morning I had to venture to the Target toy section to buy a gift for a little girl's birthday party. I had fully intended to buy another Tangled Barbie doll. I bought one 2 weeks ago before the party was postponed for weather. (Somehow someone in this house has appropriated it as their own at 5:30 AM when her mother's resistance was low. I believe the phase "You could have the Taj Mahal as long as you let me have my first cup of coffee in peace," was uttered.) I was conflicted about buying it the first time, but I was in a hurry and it was on an end cap and on sale.

But this morning, A was being pretty low key and we had some time so I ended up browsing. I hate the fact that toy stores are so gender segregated. All the pink, Pink, PINK! stuff is in 3 aisles. All the boys stuff is in another 3 aisles. There are a couple that are mixed, infant things and sports are not separated that way, but you still find 2 versions of everything. One in primary colors and one in pink and purple. It's like girls can't enjoy blue and red and therefore need their own floaties, doctor's kits and baseball bats. I am conflicted when it comes to picking out things for other kids, I don't necessarily love to buy Barbie and princess stuff, but I have. Particularly if I know that the little girl is REALLY into it and the parents don't mind. Today my resistance was feeling higher than usual (or I was more stubborn and unwilling to bend to marketing and gender rolls) and we changed up the present to a butterfly growing kit and a pack of dive sticks for the b-day girl's pool.

As conflicted as I am about buying things for other kids, I am doubly so for my own. On one hand, I don't love the princess culture and the need to teach girls to be cream puffs who wait for their "prince". On the other hand, girls have been playing dress up and tea parties for ages. Plus A is not really into it. She occasionally asks for something princess-y but she is remarkably well rounded. Shrek and Toy Story are much more favored than any of the princess movies. She would rather play hide and seek, swing, or drawl than play dress up. (Unless there is an admired child who wants to play dress up with her.) Blue is her favorite color.....and not the girly light blue with sparkles, she wants the dark navy blue. But it concerns me that she asks for princess things, not because she loves them, but because the other girls in her preschool are into them.

Up until now, I have avoided Barbies and things of that ilk. And even now that she has one, she isn't that interested in it. But one of these days I know that I am going to have to make a decision about how much I want to let these sorts of things seep into our house. For now, I have a butterfly garden to wrap and a bounce house to deliver my child to.