TEACH THE CHILDREN WELL

Buying toys and games for little kids that aren't your own can be a daunting task. It is especially difficult in these weird niche marketing times of ours, as my wife and I found out on a recent trip to a local SuperTarget. Some of the things we saw were so appalling, we had to take pictures of them. Check these out:



The first picture above is of a doll named "Quincy". Quincy, as I'm sure you can see from the picture, is black. He's one of the Little Einstein characters. If you press his tummy he'll tell you that he plays the trumpet, he'll sing you a silly song (something along the lines of "ooba dooba doo, oop oop a loo", designed I think to be reminiscent of Cab Calloway) and he'll tell you he wants to be your friend. Its all fairly innocent, but it is interesting how subtle racial stereotypes work their way into even as high-minded an educational toy as the Little Einstein series. Does Quincy play the trumpet instead of the guitar because he's a black doll. The song he sings is similar to the ones sung by the white Little Einstein dolls, but they do incorporate a slight jazz/hip-hop quality the others don't have. Is it better to have color blind playthings for our children or to acknowledge differences between races and cultures? Which differences do we choose to incorporate?

Now, at the other extreme, check out the doll below from the "Frogz" line:



When you squeeze his belly he raps a tune based on the Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight". He's a frog that's into "hippity-hop" (ha ha!) He has bling (check out the necklace--outerwear designed by Flavor Flav perhaps?) Now ask yourself, just what is it that the Frogz doll is trying to teach? That pluralized words can be spelled with a "z" at the end? That appreciating hip-hop or rap means looking like this or acting like this? I hate to sound like a fuddy duddy, but on a certain level I find both Quincy and the Frogz doll kind of offensive, albeit to different degrees and for different reasons. Quincy is politically correct but still racially biased in a subtle way that kids and their parents might not realize until much later--if ever. The Frogz dolls (collect all six!) are at best a perfect White Elephant gift and at worst a pandering, gross stereotype. I wouldn't want either one to wind up in the hands of my two or three year old.

Coming next post: more lists and the NBA Finals.

Peace...