It's not just for girls...or boys.

This Christmas, family is flying in from all over and one of the things my mother can't wait to do is get all her grandkids in the kitchen to bake.

Half a dozen kids and one grandmother covered in cookie dough should be quite a sight!

Of course my son and nephew will be baking right alongside all the girls. And it is THAT image that stuck in my mind when I read about a New Jersey teen who wrote Hasbro all upset about their Easy Bake Oven.  

She said her four year old brother wants one for Christmas, but since it is purple, the teen felt it was only being marketed toward girls.

She wants a gender-neutral one made so her brother doesn't feel embarrassed when his friends come over to play with it.

I think this teen is missing her own point.  

She is upset because an easy bake oven is made in colors she associates with girls and yet she wants to change Hasbro's thinking that baking is just for girls.

How about believing that NONE of that matters?

Colors are JUST colors and if baking shouldn't just be for girls, then why do certain colors have to be?  

Especially purple.  Kings wear purple, right?

To the teen I say buy the oven.  And if it makes you feel better, put Spiderman stickers all over it.  

Yes, if the oven was white, it may not instantly evoke images of girls, but I'm sure the smell of something delicious baking inside will overpower any concern about the color.

Warning: First reactions COUNT!

You have to love kids.

 

Besides my own, the kid I'm really loving on is Kenton Koos. You've probably heard about him. Nice clean-cut kid who decided to dye his hair green, paint a Mike Tyson-like tattoo on his face and put an oversized ring in his nose for his yearbook picture.

Why?

 

Because he said he did it to push the envelope.

The school's first reaction was to say no, but after some thought and pressing by the ACLU, is now allowing him to submit the picture because it doesn't want to violate Koos free speech rights.

But here's the icing on the cake.

 

Koos says he will need time to THINK about whether he really wants the picture in the yearbook.

 

You really gotta love kids.

They make a big stink over something and then when they finally get it, they decide they aren't sure they really want it in the first place.

 

They just wanted to see how YOU would react.

And that's parenting in a nutshell. Children pushing the limits to see their parents' reactions.

 

And a lot of it has to do with those FIRST reactions.

So you have to be careful. Because if you react badly about an outrageous yearbook photo, your child may think twice before coming to you about a real tattoo, or sex or drugs.

In my opinion, the best bet is to take a deep breath, have the child look in the mirror and ask themselves if the person looking back at them is who they really want to be.

Because in the end, we all have to live with our own decisions.

And hopefully those don't include a tattoo on their face.

Being a kid again

I did it!  I didn't think it could be done, but I pretty much finished my Christmas shopping and it's not even December yet.

No I did not go on Thanksgiving or Black Friday because that would be insane. But I did go that weekend, got to the mall right when it opened and six hours later, I was done.

And it was interesting. When I was buying presents for the adults in my life, I felt fine. Kind of like shopping feels any other time of the year.

But then I started shopping for the kids in my life.

And as I perused toy aisle after toy aisle, I found I was having a blast. Not only are toys nowadays absolutely awesome, but it was so much fun imagining the child playing with it.

I picked out dress up clothes and saw my daughter and niece dancing around in them. I picked out a cool puzzle and saw my kids putting it together. It was like I was having Christmas morning all by myself inside my head.

I vividly remember being young and opening up the toy catalog.  You remember, the mammoth one the store BEST used to send?  And I remember not wanting toys any more. I was getting too old. Clothes and music became more my style and the dolls and games were not.

But now I get to have that thrill again. Opening up the toy catalog and walking down the toy aisle has meaning again.

And I guess that is one of the great things about having kids in your life. You get to be one again too.