Yesterday I went to Subway. As I waited in line to place my delicious order, I noticed a group of 8 high school age girls crammed into a booth. I first noticed how "done-up" they were (compared to my t-shirt and jeans and maybe a little mascara high school look), hair done, make-up, clothes, accessories. Then I listened to them. I could not believe how disrespectful, and just plain mean, they were to each other. Presumably, they were treating their friends this way; a way in which I would not treat my worst enemy (not that I have any :) ). I left Subway vowing to do my best to raise Olivia in such a way that she would not treat others this way.
Today we received our book order through daycare. I don't know about you, but I LOVED book orders growing up, and I still get giddy when I find them in our daycare bag. I had ordered both kids a few new books to spruce up our library. Olivia was stoked to read one of her books, that came in a set of 3, before bed tonight: Pinkalicious, Goldalicious, and Purplicious. All look like adorable stories about a little girl...and I ordered them because someone had told me how cute they were. Olivia picked out Purplicious for tonight's bedtime book, and I excitedly started reading our new book:
"What are you painting?" asked Kendra.
"A picture of a sunset," I said.
"EWWW, it's soooo ugly. Pinkalicious, why does everything you paint have to have pink in it?" asked Tara.
"Because pink is my favorite color, " I answered.
"Don't you know, pink is passe. Passe is French for 'over,'"said Brittany. "The new color is black. All the girls like black now."
I stopped reading. I don't believe in throwing books away, but this book will NOT be in our library. It's no wonder girls now days treat each other the way they do.
6 comments:
I'm sure it has a moral at the end (if not, definitely burn it!) but it's enough seeing how they TALK in these books to say that they are NOT teaching kids what they should be. You are right on, lady!
Dang! I'm glad you posted this because I had also heard that pinkalicious was a great book. Isn't it a bestseller? I thought it would be more like Fancy Nancy, but clearly it is not. Bummer!
Good for you for stopping the reading. That's awful. We have Pinkalicious, which I thought was kind of cute but the girl's temper tantrums and sneaking treats aren't addressed very well. Boo. Thank you for clearing up my decision of whether or not to get any more in the series.
isn't it terrible that children's books are teaching little girls that they will be judged by someone, and by the modeled conversation, learn how to judge others too. The conversation is right there, just ready for a little girl to copy and use later. It's so sad.
Ouch...The Cambridge-Isanti School district has recommended book lists for each grade level. There are also other awesome recommended book lists that you can find on the web. Our friend, Jo Montie, is on a committee that selects that annual children's book award (Jane Adams) dealing with peace. I also just visited the New Moon website...for another reason, but they might have interesting information for preschool girls.
Geez! Think of how many parents think nothing of what they give their kids to read. Thanks for being a cognizant parent. (And for teaching your daughter how to spell, because I don't think that's how you spell "cognizant.") It takes a lot to shape a young woman--Olivia is lucky to have you.
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