I was contacted today by a BBC radio station asking if they could interview me as part of a morning breakfast show feature. Gutted! Obviously not about the fact I had been asked, but because I have lost my bloomin voice.
I can't complain too much because I did lose it by completely enjoying myself on my birthday fancy dress celebrations in Blackpool, which was a solid 12 hours of fun and consisted of rather a lot of karaoke singing!
(Flash backs of me dressed as Bat Girl dueting with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage doing Black Eyed Peas singing My Humps My Humps My Lovely Lady Lumps keeps haunting me! - I am sure my children would have been proud had they seen me... NOT!)
Anyway... back to the interview.
It was to be about Pink Stinks.
For those of you that haven't seen Pink Stinks in the news, it is a campaign that has been set up by two mothers, twins Abbie and Emma Moore who have called for the boycott of a major toy seller (Early Learning Centre) in protest at the "pinkification" of girls' Christmas presents. They say little girls are being led up ‘pink alleys’ with products such as princess dresses and pink fairy wings which will ultimately channel them into “pretty, pretty jobs” and hold them back from reaching their full potential”. They also bad-mouth shops such as ELC for having choices of product by 'gender' when shopping on their website.
They say their aim is to:
a/ Inspire, motivate and enthuse girls about the possibilities and opportunities open to them
b/ Improve girls’ self esteem and confidence, raise their ambitions and ultimately improve their life chances
c/ To challenge the 'culture of pink' which is based on beauty over brains and to provide an alternative
I gruffly muffled to the radio station that because I couldn't speak I would email them my thoughts and although I was a little disappointed I couldn't be part of this one, I was very happy when they asked if I would be part of future parenting features.
So once I'd started thinking about these thoughts, I thought I might aswell use them as the second post in my new blog!
Firstly, can I just go back to the campaigners 'aims' mentioned above. I can't see how pink toys in shops can cause hindrance to 'a' and 'b'. These are fantastic aims, but between teachers and parents, I am sure we can find better ways of reaching these goals.
As for 'c' - what are they going to do - invent a new colour?!
Some girls like pink - so do some boys! Some girls play with trains - some boys play with dolls.
Parents know what their own children like.
So as for the Early Learning Center being slated for having a choice between 'girls' and 'boys' toys when shopping online - isn't that to make it easier for the parents who are shopping, who may I add all know what their own children like? (If your boy wants a 'girls' toy, go to the 'girls' isle, vice versa) If everything was just dumped together shopping would be chaos. Since day dot, there has always been a distinguished difference between girls and boys toys and how they each play during role play.
I don't completely disagree with the campaign at all, I do agree with the campaigns views on low self esteem being on the high due to the media’s obsession with stick-thin models, footballers’ wives, and overtly sexualised pop stars, but again, all this effort could be put into raising awareness of healthy eating & exercise - and promoting good positive parenting to get the correct messages to our children.
Isn't it mums, post pregnancy with excess baby weight who get narked off with these skinny celebs and feel down in the dumps about their weight.. not the children?
If children are getting these messages, they might possibly be coming from their own parents.
So what do these mums not like exactly?
The colour Pink?
Skinny Models?
Toy Shops?
If you visit their website, the message is that garbled I don't think even they know them selves what their actual message is meant to be http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/
As for saying shop doors are oozing with 'girly pinkness', there are lots of companies out there offering alternative clothing starting from a very young age - www.sophie4sophie.com is one that springs to mind with some really funky designs and also www.wheniwasakid.co.uk for fantastic toys you may find that you played with as a child - If you dont want the pink stuff from ELC - its simple - shop elsewhere... the world isn't under complete pink attack.
In one interview, these two mum campaigners stated "It began because I've got two daughters and Abi has two sons so we started noticing the differences between our houses, It's shocking, mine is full of pink stuff and Abi's is full of dinosaurs."
I say: Erm... yes... thats cause you have two girls and your sister has two boys
They also stated "It's not natural and it wasn't like this when we were growing up in the 1970s".
I say: Erm... yes... times do change darling! In the 70's Microwave ovens and VCR's had only just become available, lets not wish ourselves back there hey?!
So anyway, I went onto the Early Learning Centre's website to see what all the fuss was about.
I typed 'girl' in the gender search and the first item I came across was a Fairyland Bluebell Boot.... you got it... in the colour... Yellow actually! The next was a Country Kitchen in.... cream, and then there were a few pink items, but there was a Light & Sounds retro robot - not typically a girls toy, but certainly in the girls section.
Their search facility is fantastic... you can refine search not only by gender but by price, age and learning skills.
So my opinion on this campaign ... I personally think there is more to worry about these days - why not put all this effort into something more important such as anti-bullying.
Oh and here is Wikipedia's article on the colour Pink! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink
Are you 'for' or 'against' Pink Stinks? Click the poll to the right of this page and let us know anonymously!
(Some of the quotes from this blog were extracted from the Telegraph & Sky News - online)
[ Read More ]
I can't complain too much because I did lose it by completely enjoying myself on my birthday fancy dress celebrations in Blackpool, which was a solid 12 hours of fun and consisted of rather a lot of karaoke singing!
(Flash backs of me dressed as Bat Girl dueting with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage doing Black Eyed Peas singing My Humps My Humps My Lovely Lady Lumps keeps haunting me! - I am sure my children would have been proud had they seen me... NOT!)
Anyway... back to the interview.
It was to be about Pink Stinks.
For those of you that haven't seen Pink Stinks in the news, it is a campaign that has been set up by two mothers, twins Abbie and Emma Moore who have called for the boycott of a major toy seller (Early Learning Centre) in protest at the "pinkification" of girls' Christmas presents. They say little girls are being led up ‘pink alleys’ with products such as princess dresses and pink fairy wings which will ultimately channel them into “pretty, pretty jobs” and hold them back from reaching their full potential”. They also bad-mouth shops such as ELC for having choices of product by 'gender' when shopping on their website.
They say their aim is to:
a/ Inspire, motivate and enthuse girls about the possibilities and opportunities open to them
b/ Improve girls’ self esteem and confidence, raise their ambitions and ultimately improve their life chances
c/ To challenge the 'culture of pink' which is based on beauty over brains and to provide an alternative
I gruffly muffled to the radio station that because I couldn't speak I would email them my thoughts and although I was a little disappointed I couldn't be part of this one, I was very happy when they asked if I would be part of future parenting features.
So once I'd started thinking about these thoughts, I thought I might aswell use them as the second post in my new blog!
Firstly, can I just go back to the campaigners 'aims' mentioned above. I can't see how pink toys in shops can cause hindrance to 'a' and 'b'. These are fantastic aims, but between teachers and parents, I am sure we can find better ways of reaching these goals.
As for 'c' - what are they going to do - invent a new colour?!
Some girls like pink - so do some boys! Some girls play with trains - some boys play with dolls.
Parents know what their own children like.
So as for the Early Learning Center being slated for having a choice between 'girls' and 'boys' toys when shopping online - isn't that to make it easier for the parents who are shopping, who may I add all know what their own children like? (If your boy wants a 'girls' toy, go to the 'girls' isle, vice versa) If everything was just dumped together shopping would be chaos. Since day dot, there has always been a distinguished difference between girls and boys toys and how they each play during role play.
I don't completely disagree with the campaign at all, I do agree with the campaigns views on low self esteem being on the high due to the media’s obsession with stick-thin models, footballers’ wives, and overtly sexualised pop stars, but again, all this effort could be put into raising awareness of healthy eating & exercise - and promoting good positive parenting to get the correct messages to our children.
Isn't it mums, post pregnancy with excess baby weight who get narked off with these skinny celebs and feel down in the dumps about their weight.. not the children?
If children are getting these messages, they might possibly be coming from their own parents.
So what do these mums not like exactly?
The colour Pink?
Skinny Models?
Toy Shops?
If you visit their website, the message is that garbled I don't think even they know them selves what their actual message is meant to be http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/
As for saying shop doors are oozing with 'girly pinkness', there are lots of companies out there offering alternative clothing starting from a very young age - www.sophie4sophie.com is one that springs to mind with some really funky designs and also www.wheniwasakid.co.uk for fantastic toys you may find that you played with as a child - If you dont want the pink stuff from ELC - its simple - shop elsewhere... the world isn't under complete pink attack.
In one interview, these two mum campaigners stated "It began because I've got two daughters and Abi has two sons so we started noticing the differences between our houses, It's shocking, mine is full of pink stuff and Abi's is full of dinosaurs."
I say: Erm... yes... thats cause you have two girls and your sister has two boys
They also stated "It's not natural and it wasn't like this when we were growing up in the 1970s".
I say: Erm... yes... times do change darling! In the 70's Microwave ovens and VCR's had only just become available, lets not wish ourselves back there hey?!
So anyway, I went onto the Early Learning Centre's website to see what all the fuss was about.
I typed 'girl' in the gender search and the first item I came across was a Fairyland Bluebell Boot.... you got it... in the colour... Yellow actually! The next was a Country Kitchen in.... cream, and then there were a few pink items, but there was a Light & Sounds retro robot - not typically a girls toy, but certainly in the girls section.
Their search facility is fantastic... you can refine search not only by gender but by price, age and learning skills.
So my opinion on this campaign ... I personally think there is more to worry about these days - why not put all this effort into something more important such as anti-bullying.
Oh and here is Wikipedia's article on the colour Pink! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink
Are you 'for' or 'against' Pink Stinks? Click the poll to the right of this page and let us know anonymously!
(Some of the quotes from this blog were extracted from the Telegraph & Sky News - online)