Quandry

A few days ago, I wrote about my kids' new interest in those brightly-colored, fun-shaped Silly Bandz (or Crazy Bands) and my subsequent search for them. Now, some of you, those of you who always think I'm anti-princess and anti-Barbie, might wonder about my interest in and support of both a a). fad and b). plastic toy, about which I do usually rail. And I have now given much thought to giving in to such things, even consulting early childhood experts (i.e. our preschool director!). And so here's what I've come up with:

Let's just say my bark is worse than my bite most of the time. We have princess stuff and Barbie stuff. I'm not against most anything in moderation (even non-organic fruit! :) ). As long as it doesn't obviously conflict with our family values, like, say toy guns (somehow, medieval weapons of destruction like bows and arrows and daggers and swords are okay. Go figure.) or tv-branded food (we don't eat stuff, read "crap," because Clifford or Dora do), I'm okay with it. Especially because the financial outlay in this case is minimal. And because Sis and Bud want the bracelets because they're fun, not because everyone else has them. That's a big difference in my book. So, it's not a hard-and-fast rule about buying trendy things, but I think I can see my way clear for now.

It reminds me of that part of Little Women when Amy wants to buy oranges with the family rag money because it was the thing in school and Meg understands. I understand--I wanted a faux rabbit coat and jeans with patches on the pockets in elementary school, jelly shoes, twist-a-bead necklaces, and other things I've now forgotten (and in this case, wanted those things because everyone else had them). I think I got most of them and in doing so they lost their power. Had I not, I'm sure I would still fret, in some way, about it--it's hard not to fit in.

No sense giving such power to a little band of plastic. So, I'll talk about materialism and peer pressure but buy the bracelets anyway (especially because the kids want to share them with friends and put them in their party favor bags. Sorry, Mama Teacher, I'm sure they do drive teachers crazy. Hence the name, perhaps?). I'll draw my battlelines somewhere else. Like right before any toy guns.