That is so cool that she identifies with Merida! I love Brave. Best Disney Princess ever. I was sooooo glad to finally see a princess who didn't need rescuing.
That's cool that she's in cub scouts! I didn't think they allowed girls to join? Maybe it's different between the U.S. and the U.K.?
My husband and I don't always play traditional gender roles in our relationship, so we've been careful about what we try to teach our son. He has trucks and trains (Thomas!) and all the boy stuff, but he also has a play kitchen (which I painted in orange and green... do you know how hard it is to find a bloody play kitchen that isn't girlified?!) He also has a little crib where he tucks in his stuffed animals at night.
I want him to know it's ok to have a nurturing side. It's ok to like to cook. It's ok to play rough and it's ok to play gentle. Hopefully, with luck and love, we'll have a well-rounded kid on our hands by the time he flies the nest. That's the best any of us can hope for, eh?
. Vermillion, some of them just seem to soak gendered behaviour up out of the thin air. I made my mum buy Piglet a toy toolkit when she was 2. There was a hammer, a screwdriver and some nuts and bolts that screwed on to each other, etc. Piglet couldn't even talk but she came to me and indicated that she wanted the nut screwed off the bolt so I did it for her. She took the bolt and carefully ran it around her lips like lipstick
LOVE THIS! BAHAHAHAHAH!
I haven't seen Mulan in ages... I'll have to see if I can find a copy. And yes! I love that Merida didn't get married in the end, too! Yay! Of course there's always room for Brave II to f*ck that up.
- don't get me started on the Lego! The two bloody Pirate ships and the effing Hogwarts School buildings. At least now she's twigged that if she goes for the pink girls' Lego (which is pretty cool acksherly), the Dad will not be so interested and take it over. (that is a gritted teeth grin, LOL). 
. Although I was unable to resist a bowl and plate with the fetching turquoise and pink tartan - after all I am Scottish .
Agh, agh! don't go there!
The only bad thing about Brave is that as soon as you set foot in a Disney shop it's all gorgeous dresses and Princess Merida jewellery, glittery handbag sets, make-up kits. Yes, there is a useless decorative bow which you couldn't possibly shoot at all, let alone shoot sufficiently well to injure any annoying boys around.
But it's our own fault for buying this cr*p instead of saying: No I will not waste my money on that sh*t, let's go and get Lego. And you can build it yourself and your Dad can hand you the pieces if he's GOOD
PS, I refused to buy the Merida dresses and jewellery
He's a little builder. Have you heard of Goldie Blox? Maybe something for your Piglet? I actually bought a set for my son because I thought they were so darn cool, but they are geared towards girls: http://www.goldieblox.com/
Who can go wrong with turquoise and pink?!
My kiddo is in to Duplo now, and Playmobil.
! They are a little young for Piglet, who is 9 now; I'm really sorry to have missed them. At least Lego do cool kits for girls now - you can build a treehouse and there's Karate Emma as well as a beauty parlour. I'm very cross that they made the Lord of the Rings sets without any women! I keep meaning to write and complain. Those look so
We just moved on from Playmobil. You could have a bunch of stuff! a lot of it is palaces but there are some pirates and farm animals - and a totally excellent playpark with swings on a thing that goes round. Playmobil is great.
Look out for the Percy Jackson books as your son gets older. They are a great way into the Classics and ancient history for kids. Piglet is always keen to go to museums. She knows nearly as much about the Greek gods as I do now! and I did a little bit of Classics.
My son can recite parts of the book; it's ... amazing. Man, I love that kid. The book is about little girl pirates and a little boy named Tom. Good shtuff. I Playmobil. We brought home more Playmobil from Holland than about anything else during our last trip. Playmobil and Dutch books. (Mr. McKenna is Dutch.)
[blurt] Ugh, just ugh. [/blurt]
Reading all of these posts makes me think how grateful I am for my munchkin and how much I'd like another, though it seems unlikely. She's currently into the Tinker Bell movies which are surprisingly pleasant to watch. Though I do prefer when she asks for Doctor Who.
Oh, and I personally like Rapunzel from Tangled, smacking everybody down with the frying pan.
Awesome.
I love that my son's favorite book of the moment is a book about little GIRL pirates.
LotR without women? What the?! That's just wrong... I do hope they did Harry P. better. We're not quite ready for Lego, but Mr. McKenna is waiting (impatiently). He's collected Lego for YEARS.
If you'd seriously like to be rid of your Playmobil, I'd happily pay a fair price + shipping.
(Don't hold your breath, LOL, it probably won't be today. Five will get you ten she starts crying and says, "No I want to go to the beach," as soon as I say: Yeah! let's do your boring idea! I am so into it!.)
[blurt] Ugh, just ugh. [/blurt]
Reading all of these posts makes me think how grateful I am for my munchkin and how much I'd like another, though it seems unlikely. She's currently into the Tinker Bell movies which are surprisingly pleasant to watch. Though I do prefer when she asks for Doctor Who.
Oh, and I personally like Rapunzel from Tangled, smacking everybody down with the frying pan.
for the ugh. 
The horse was mega. I liked the whole Girl is a bit anxious about going out into the world but makes it out the door thing. Neko pointed out to me that Tangled is Disney and Brave is Pixar. But girly films have certainly moved on since Snow White arrived at a cottage with seven men in it and inveigled her way in by saying, "I can clean and sew and cook"!
The horse was mega. I liked the whole Girl is a bit anxious about going out into the world but makes it out the door thing. Neko pointed out to me that Tangled is Disney and Brave is Pixar. But girly films have certainly moved on since Snow White arrived at a cottage with seven men in it and inveigled her way in by saying, "I can clean and sew and cook"!
[B said:
You are making me nervous! I have so much stuff hoarded in my study that I seriously can't get in there. There are just towering boxes and boxes of things. Unfortunately some of it is historically irreplaceable stuff that I ought to archive properly so I have to go through it instead of just chucking it all in a skip. )
...
Me too. My excuse is that I have a free mini-museum during the week of our town's festival and let people play with my artefacts.
The clockwork O gauge Hornby trains are a hit with Dads, Granddads and small children of both sexes, especially when I give them four locomotives and ask them to see which one goes round the track the most times.
Last year there was nearly a family argument. Mum's guess was right, and her sons thought she had cheated.
Other hits are the wind-up gramophone and the typewriter.
Nothing in my mini-museum uses batteries or electricity. Even those in their twenties and thirties are puzzled that the gramophone has no wires and I change the volume by changing the needle, or by putting a sock in the horn.
