Bunchland

Meri Perra blogs about the challenges she and her partner face in trying to raise their girls with feminist values

Our daughters are joyfully riding the wave of a well-meaning but definite over-abundance of Disney Princess gifts they got for Christmas.

Part of the infestation includes a very big, very pink Disney Princess story book, the complete princess series, in point of fact, which comes with an infinite number of stickers that are now scattered all over our house.

The book is not all horrible, it’s just mostly horrible. Mulan is a brave hero who goes to war, and Belle from Beauty and the Beast gets trapped when she goes off to rescue her dad. (By which I mean, Mulan and Belle are less bad than the other stories.)  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he supports PBS, but he doesn’t want to support PBS; it’s high time Big Bird and the gang at Sesame Street had some commercials.  If there’s one thing toddlers need more of, it’s advertising.

2. We’re all too busy these days with constant updates and as a result of this, kids aren’t growing up with any space to think about reflect on individual subjects. It’s showing in their test scores and educator Diana Senechal thinks giving kids a little more solitude would improve this. Sounds like someone wants to start a slow think movement.

3. Still no more than seven people know the sex of baby Storm.

4. Here’s one mom arguing why books are better than e-books for kids.

5. Five-year-old Riley says girls want superheroes and princesses. Amen, sister.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. The New York Times parenting blog recommends the New York Times Children’s Book Review. This would be ridiculous except for the fact that we actually do have complete trust in the NYT Children’s Book Review, so a fair recommendation.

2. Disney acquired Babble. What will this mean?? We’re thinking we’re going to get more Catherine Connors in fun and silly get-ups.

3. Does being a mom make you want a smartphone? From what we’ve observed, yes.

4. Bad lessons from good movies. We knew the princess-y ones, but hadn’t thought about the unconventional play thing and the perhaps unfair optimism in Wall-E.

5. Did you see that awesome 3D chalk drawing of the Lego Terra Cotta warriors? Here’s how they did it:

What we’re reading today:

1. Why doesn’t Google Kids exist? Good question! Great argument from a dad at Slate.

2. One mom swipes some blush across her cheeks and catches her baby daughter transfixed by and mimicking the act. Whoops.

3. What makes a great sensory playground? Washington Post parenting blogger Mari-Jane Williams tests three in her area.

4. Gwyneth talks family pride and acceptance on GOOP: “Two mommies? How lucky is she!?” Paltrow says to Apple after Apple’s learned that a girl in her class does indeed have two mommies.

5. Let’s all take a moment and think about our dance moves circa 1991, shall we? Also, this is a lesson to always record your kids doing awesome stuff that they will LOVE seeing 20 years from now.

ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER ’91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.  Read more...

Have you seen our new party blog? The following post was originally published on Today’s Parent:

Bunchland.com ‘s Creative Director Rebecca Brown has a daughter named Rose.  She loves princesses and dolls. Following a trip to the emergency room with a cut finger, she’s also fixated on hospitals. For Rose’s third birthday, her parents wanted to create a memorable experience for Rose and her friends that incorporated all of Rose’s interests. They came up with a concept and a totally doable way to execute their idea. So if you have a princess baby doll lover in your family, this party might work for you, too.

The Big Idea:

Princesses + Baby Dolls + Hospitals = The Princess Rosie Doll Hospital.

The Invitation:

 Read more...

Your princess news round-up

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, princesses are all over the flipping place. Recently seemingly more than usual. Here’s what we’ve come across:

1. Is Disney evil? DeviantART-ist Chris Hill says no. Hill assigned each Disney princess (including Tinkerbell, but excluding Princess Tiana) one of the seven deadly sins.  Check out his profile and click on each card to see why he chose each Disney character for her particular sin. Via Jezebel

2. Why do little girls seem to favour princesses over ballerinas, fairies or other uber-girly symbols? Money. Princesses gets diamonds, gowns, carriages, castles, etc. Mommyish says this is perhaps why Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel (Snow White??) top the list for most popular princesses. Shouldn’t Jasmine be #1 then? She has a pet tiger. That’s way better than mice friends. Also Ariel trading in her sea princessdom for land princessdom? While we don’t know what thrown Prince Eric was heir to (do we?), we suspect Ariel downgraded.  Read more...

The case for waking up early tomorrow

It’s no surprise that Sunday’s New York Times Wedding and Celebrations section included a few items on tomorrow’s Royal Wedding. Bethany Kandel spoke to a few moms who were pulling their kids out of school to watch Kate Middleton walk down the aisle and become a princess.

The moms in Kandel’s piece make a good point. Sure, Royal watching can be silly and perhaps we can get a little too caught up in what Kate’s wearing, but tomorrow is a chance to see what a real princess looks like, when she’s at her most Cinderella-esque.

Maryland mom Lara DiPaola told Kandel that she still remembers what her mom said when they watched Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding 30 years ago: “A fairy tale is just a story, but  princesses are real. Princess Diana’s wedding is part of our history.”  Read more...