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  • Please, Pixar, No Princesses

    So Pixar’s latest, “Up” seems to be a big hit, earning rave reviews and scoring big at the box office.

    But it prompted Linda Holmes, blogger for NPR’s pop culture blog Monkey See, to write a heartfelt open letter to Pixar.

    “This is not an angry letter. It is especially not an angry letter about Up, which I adored,” she begins. “I could have sat in the theater and watched it two more times in a row….
    So I'm not complaining; I'm asking. I'm asking because I think so highly of you.

    Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess.”
     

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  • Don't Call Her a Tomboy

    Ask anyone of our generation what a tomboy is, and as forward-thinking as we might be, you'll get a gender-bending answer. Ask our kids, and you might just get a funny look.

    It seems the word tomboy is disappearing, or at least the negative connotation that came with it when we were kids.

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  • The Longshots: Girls Can Play Football . . . and Make You Cry

    If somebody just gives them the boost, kids can forget what "other people think." It's one of those "messages" that comes blaring out of the newest "kid as sports phenom/role model to America" films to hit DVD just in time for Christmas.

    "The Longshots," based on the true story of the Jasmine Plummer, the first girl to lead a boys Pop Warner football team to the national championships, got so-so reviews when it was making the rounds of the theatres over the summer. But I've always had a thing for those stories of the girls playing "boys" sports, and when you're talking the real deal . . . a shy, smart girl who simply has physical talents . . . who cares that the director used to bounce around a stage telling the world he did it all for the "Nookie?"

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  • Girls Think Pink Toys Suck Too

    We just had a birthday around here -- my daughter turned three yesterday. Of course, the avalanche of toy catalogs and such started a few weeks ago, touching off my annual snit about why girls' toys are so ridiculously stupid

    Now, my girl is not especially a girlie girl -- she likes pretty dresses, but prefers things that can be thrown, hammered, splashed or stacked to the traditional girl toys of pink fluffy dolls and long-maned horsies. When I pick her up at school, all the little girls who are her age are generally playing some quiet, interactive game and she's tearing around like a maniac, usually covered in dirt from head to toe. 

    But I look for age-appropriate toys that would reflect her interests, and it's a sea of pink this and kitteny that. All the building and dinosaur toys are for boys -- a fact I conveniently ignore now, but when she's a little older this will be a problem.

    Which is why a press release we got today cheered me right up.

     

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  • Babble Talk: The Joy of Sundresses

    Sundresses are so cheery and flouncy and full of fun.  No wonder so many parents stuff their little tomboys into the pinks and frills despite their protests.  Or, if you're lucky, you have one that requests the sweet little get-ups.  Geri has it right, frolicking with Bluebell wearing matching mommy-daughter dresses.  Oh and flowing locks helps too.

    If you get goggly trying to decide which dress is for you, check out Babble's Best Sundresses this week. 

    The delicacy pictured right is the LuLu by M.N. Bird Company and it's only $47.  For more examples of loveliness go here.


  • Top 5 Bad Mother's Day Gifts for Grown-Up Tomboys

    As a former tomboy and avid devourer of pirate, private detective, and pioneer girl novels, I learned more about brake pads than kitchen utensils during my happily gender-free growing up years.  Fast forward many many hungry children later and I've learned more domestic skills than I ever thought possible, but out of necessity rather than love.  Anything domesti-mommy represents my idea of the worst possible Mother's Day gifts of all time.  You might love them.  But me and Harriet the Spy think they stink.

    1. Kitchen Implements - Anything related to baking pies, making lasagnas, or fancy mixer doo-dads send the absolutely wrong message.  If you want your tomboy to love you, buy yourself these things and show her what you can make her with them.

    2. Sexy Lingerie - Grown-up tomboys may love to dress up all pretty, but don't buy her lingerie for Mother's Day unless you want a black eye.

    3. Workout Membership to the Gym - Again with the wrong message.  Your tomboy probably loves team sports, the more rough and tumble the better.  But aerobics? Probably not her thing.

    4. Hallmark Book-Length Card with Sappy Sayings About Motherhood -  If the first few lines read, "Dear Mother of My Children. You always know just what to do.  Your loving kisses and hugs are like angel wings from heaven..." Step away!! Your tomboy would rather see something funny and light than schmaltzy and ushy mushy.

    5. Cross-Stitched "Mother's Love" Pillow - Your girl probably doesn't like cross-stitch on principal.  And country cute is definitely not her aesthetic.  Stay away from all things plaid, lacey and bunny.  Or else.



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