Check out these two costumes, reblogged from sparkamovement, which wrote: “Girls’ toddler Cookie Monster costume vs. Boys’ toddler Cookie Monster costume. We’re not joking when we say gender expectations and sexualization start early.”
Sure, the boys vs girls issue is interesting, but it’s ultimately irrelevant. Once you start hunting for a ready-made Cookie Monster costume, you've already bought in. Why not an original monster costume more in line with your kid's interests than some corporate marketing exec's???
If you want to be really radical, just skip Hallowe’en and put your money and energy into real holidays that will give your kids something more lasting than a couple of bags of candy. I say “more lasting than” not “bereft of.” In case anyone’s thinking of reporting me to CPS for depriving them, you should know that between Simchas Torah and Purim, we really do get plenty of candy.
I gotta disagree here... it's not completely irrelevant. And sadly (well, I think it's sad, but other readers can flame me if they wish,) some kids spend all day at daycare or at school and then after-care and the parents and kids don't have any time to work on something like a costume.
ReplyDeleteAnd the girl vs boy thing really does matter. A lot. In fact, the boy costume looks exactly like Cookie Monster. I can't understand why a girl couldn't wear it, or why a corporation would bother with the "girl" version. But really, the issue is the blatant sexualization of girls' clothing, accessories, apparel, etc from a frighteningly early age. Honestly, it's enough to make me want to go frum.
I'm going to get all self-righteous here. I was a single mother, working all day. My kids spent from 7:30 to 6:00 pm every day in daycare. I was taking writing courses and freelancing and meeting all kinds of deadlines at work and home. Which meant that Purim was just another deadline, and the costume was just another assignment. My kids had great, homemade costumes which met all their expectations, every single year. I didn't have time, but I made time.
ReplyDeleteBUT - here's why my entire thesis is correct in my own very humble opinion: the reason WHY I went to those lengths, which is that Purim isn't the meaningless throw-away that Hallowe'en probably is in most families.
I don't mind if people aren't celebrating MY holidays; that doesn't bother me at all. But it bothers me that this holiday and a couple of others seem to be a bigger and bigger deal with each passing year.
And oh my gosh, I really DO sound like a senior citizen!