Parents for Ethical Marketing

Good post, Lisa. We stopped doing gifts in our family last year and make a donation instead. We don't have little kids in the family, and it got to the point where we were so stressed about what to buy each other -- when we are all able to do it ourselves... and that got in the way of enjoying the holiday. So we stopped, and it was nice to celebrate the holidays focusing on more important things. :)

I like it, Annie. We have changed our ways and simplified, much spurred by my teenage son a few years ago, as he pondered the single most important part of the Advent Season - the warm feeling of lights and just being together. It is amazing how much we learn from our children, when we foster opportunities for them to delve into new thoughts and dreams. What a gift!

Hmmm... After reading and discussing the article with my brilliant wife, I think their results are a bit confusing.
Unless their control group (the dora and clifford watching ones) had NO, or very little, media exposure (which they hadn't, they were all from near Orlando), the study would be fairly inconclusive.
The reality is that all the girls ... See Morein the study had probably already been exposed to a huge amount of thinness and princess media that helped shape their views. An additional 14 minutes wasn't going to create drastic changes to one group over the other when it came to their awareness or feelings about body image.

While the article seems to indicate you can let your 3 to 6 year olds watch princesses without worry about body image, I think we should all be quite weary.

Ariah, great points. My takeaway wasn't that younger girls were safe from potential harm. I was more struck by the immediacy of the impact for older girls, esp. when they may see similar images almost constantly if parents aren't vigilant. As with any research, I like to see it backed up time after time before I take it to heart.

Thanks guys. It went well and was so nice to get away from my day job!

Thank you. That's a good Christmas gift for someone I know.

Terrific! Glad to hear it. I renewed my daughter's subscription and am buying one for my niece.

Sara, hope you can keep it that way! Mine youngest is one of those who are mesmerized by it. She's seven now and she would watch 24/7 if we allowed it.

Heh, I was probably one of those kids - except I was playing video games, not just watching television. I fear for my son's geek potential if he doesn't learn to slow down once in a while :P

No kidding.