Awesome Toys = An Awesome Childhood.

As a young girl who loved to play with dolls, play pretend, dress up, give makeovers etc... you would think that playing with Barbies would be perfectly amusing to me. As I have said before, my mother was not fond of the whole Barbie scene, she believed they represented an unhealthy message for little girls who were growing up. In her eyes (and the eyes of many mothers apparently) Barbies represented the utmost importance of beauty, the sexualization of little girls, an unhealthy and unrealistic image of what a woman or girl should look like, and downplayed the power and intelligence of women. I would agree with all of this on some level, but I do not know how I feel about Barbies really. However I would like to dedicate my last post to toys that are just all around great. I never had Barbies around the house and I'd say I turned out alright, so in this post I would like to thank my mother for all the fun and exciting toys I did have that I feel truly helped my mind grow as a kid.

First and foremost I would like to thank my mother for PlayDough. PlayDough was probably my favorite toy as a child. It entertained me for hours, it is fun, interesting to touch, feel, and build with as a toddler and as an older kid it was even better to create things with. In my opinion PlayDough teaches children to be creative, patient, and proud of the products they make. Food, people, characters, pets, animals, furniture... all these things can be created out of nothing and I think it is important for children use their hands and other tools to see where their imagination takes them. Not to mention, PlayDough is gender neutral and appropriate for all ages, the only downfall is getting it stuck in your carpet.

I am thankful for Legos. Large Legos are great for little kids to learn about how to successfully build things using support and vision of what they want to make. As a child I would build houses for my other toys to play in, I would build towers as tall as they would go and wait for them to fall, I learned to play patiently with my little sister, to work together, and share. All these things are beneficial to children and Legos are gender neutral as well. The smaller more complex Legos can entertain children for years and years. It is a healthy activity for the mind and finished products give children a sense of accomplishment and pride.


Stuffed animals are next on the list. As a child my house was constantly littered with a trail of Beanie Babies that followed my sister and I wherever we went. Playing pretend was huge, and an important part of play in every child's life. It allows for creativity, strengthens dialect and communication skills, and helps children's imaginations flourish.

The last toy/activity I would like to thank my mother for would be arts and crafts. I was lucky enough to get a great mom who was creative, enthusiastic, and patient when it came to play time. As a child, my sister and I created so many things that were used for decoration, presents, jewelry, you name it. We learned how to use paint, glue, scissors, glitter, stickers, markers, and stamps appropriately and respectfully while also having so much fun and expressing ourselves. Though arts and crafts is a lot of work for parents (I don't know how my mom did it sometimes), it is so important for kids to get the chance to make something out of nothing so they can see and appreciate all the amazing things their hands and minds can create.



All these toys (and so many more) had a huge affect on my sister and I growing up, they were part of the reason my childhood was so fun and healthy and I'm thankful for my parents and family every single day. I would like to say the independence and ambition I have as a woman today had something to do with the fact that I wasn't allowed to have promiscuous looking dolls in the house for the sake of this blog and on behalf of feminists all over the country fighting these products, but I just cannot say that this is true. I can say however, that these toys are amazing and fun and I am thankful I got to grow up playing with them.