She doesn't really raise a lot of gender questions, though - the sleight of hand is in quotes such as this one: My daughter is still pooping her drawers. Gender roles are of much lower importance than at TNG's house, for example. That said, I'm much more concerned about shielding my daughter against the media onslaught than the toys she plays with. It's funny - my sister's kid is eight months older than mine. She watches a lot of TV. Ariel is the best thing in the world for her - Disney princesses really matter. By contrast, my daughter has seen three things on TV in her entire short life: Super Bowl XLVII, Super Bowl XLVIII and 30 minutes of Winged Migration when she was fighting a 105 degree fever from teething. She doesn't know from Disney princesses. Her favorite toy in all the world is an Afrin bottle, followed by blocks, followed by a box of Hot Wheels cars. As a screenwriter that has friends who write children's programming, I'm acutely aware of how little psychological training the average children's television writer has and how inexpert they are at propagating positive gender roles. Keeping her aware that the Idiot Box is looking to sell her something is Priority One. Helping her understand the stories she hears aren't reality is Priority Two. After that, if she wants a barbie doll she'll get one. I'll be honest. I'd be totally into building her a dollhouse. That sounds like fun. But I'd be just as into building her a train set. She does dig on the Hotwheels.It’s tough, because as a creative person myself, I’d love to see much more open-ended creative play, but that’s not financially sound for a large toy company. When the choice is My Little Pony or an open-ended toy, which one are they going to choose? They’re going to choose My Little Pony. If you want to be involved with more open-ended creative play, you’re going to have to look in the specialty toy market, with educational toys or small mom-and-pop companies or maybe European companies. They don’t have the big numbers, so they don’t have anything to prove.
Good on you with the TV avoidance ... that's crucial, more crucial than ever. It's all too easy to fall prey as well. Heh. Okay. Thanks for the answer -- maybe I'll ask a follow-up in a year or two. I remain very interested in optimal parenting strategies.Her favorite toy in all the world is an Afrin bottle, followed by blocks, followed by a box of Hot Wheels cars.