One of the toys I JUST HAD TO HAVE when I was in elementary school was this:
That's right - Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots! I loved this toy. If memory serves (and it may not - the Mad Cow is never far away), I was the only girl I knew who wanted, and got, this toy.
I don't really remember feeling awkward about being an outlier in this respect. That didn't come until later, when I remember (quite vividly, in fact), that popular girls didn't appear smarter than the boys, and popular girls weren't overtly assertive about going after what they wanted, and popular girls wanted to be stewardesses or teachers rather than engineers or scientists or even Senior Non-Commissioned Officers.
I'm still not very concerned with coddling the egos of insecure men (or women, really). Like a lot of young women, I lost my way as an adolescent and young adult in this respect. I found it again once I realized, and internalized, that my personal and professional self-worth was not dependent on what others thought of me.
On the bright side, my own Smart Girl is farther along on this issue than I was at her age, which pleases me greatly. She has learned, and internalized, the message that she really can do or be whatever she wants, and is making decisions that will allow her the flexibility and freedom to do just that. Go, Smart Girl.
With each generation, women are becoming a little more self-sufficient, a little more sure of their own abilities. Rock 'Em, ladies.
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10 comments:
OK.
So until 5th grade, I preferred stuffed animals to dolls. Much more cuddly. But in 5th grade my friends & I got into Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
What I liked best about them was building them furniture out of cardboard and shoe boxes, and taking material scraps and designing and sewing clothes from them--I am surprisingly good at sewing in miniature, and far better at designing in miniature than human scale. :)
Remeber your battles over starting a girls bull whip team?
While I never had a Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots toy, I was really amused the other year when some commercial showed lifesize RE-SE Robots fighting. It was cool when the one head popped up. (grin) Made my day.
Dr. Phil
Oh yes, Michelle, the building of furniture and houses and designing clothes was the main draw of dolls. Not baby dolls, but every grown-woman type doll.
My cousin Karen and I made miniature candles and boxes, dipping thread in wax.
The dolls? Meh, just models for my creations.
Threadjack Alert!
Have you looked at other flooring options for the Dreaded White Lino? Laminate/hardwood Stuff is very durable and popular and prices vary. And since you and Smart Man are likely to be the only people in the house, I think you both can refrain from roller-skating on it, Hmmmmm?
Mom, I do remember. Just another choice of mine that made me "unpopular." It bothered me then (but not enough to stop), but now? Not so much.
Threadjack response: We have someone coming on Monday of next week to discuss the options (including laminates). We'll see what works, both from a personal preference point of view and a cost point of view.
MG - I think that was what made the Strawberry shortcake dolls such a draw--they could stand upon on their own, and model my dresses etc.
Never owned a Barbie Doll--they were just creepy.
Heh. One of the reasons I didn't respond to the last post is 'cause I *did* have a few dolls, but that was because I also had a sister, who liked to play with dolls. (I did not have any Transformers, unfortunately, but that was an error my brother later corrected by giving me a lovely "classic" style one of my favorite.) The main draw, as MG and RM say, was making stuff for them. I was never very talented at sewing clothes, but I made oodles and oodles of new outfits for our paper dolls. That and setting up the living spaces for the barbies out of random things (couple of blocks for a chair, book as a table, etc.) was 90% of the fun.
Books were my number one favorite "toy" though. You could take away every single toy if you left me a pile of library books.
Now Anne, that's just plain interesting. I cannot work in two dimensions (ie just "draw" something) but I can work free hand in three dimensions (ie with material)
Hmm... it *is* interesting. I can usually work between 3D and 2D pretty well, but clothes have always been a bit puzzling. Adding just the right amount of extra fabric here or there for the curve of something was never something I could remember.
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