What Made My "Collector" Child Eager to Clean Out Her Room

Earlier today I suggested to my first-grade daughter that she should go through her toys to see if there was anything she didn't want anymore.

Nope.

Buoyed by the promise of an imminent snowday, I try again several hours later. But this time, I change my tactic. While Marley is in the kitchen having dessert, I go up to her room and take all of her stuffed animals. Not to worry--I'm not evil. I line them all up in the hall and callher upstairs with this invitation: "There's a yard sale going on up here. Come get your wallet."

"Really?" She runs up the stairs and finds me in her room.

I am ready with instructions. I tell her, "Go shopping in the hall. Buy whatever you want. Bring me your items when you are ready and I'll ring you up."

She dashes downstairs to get a shopping bag, and on her way back up she tells her big sister that we're having a yard sale in the hall.

I wish I'd taken a picture of that part of the sale as Marley shopped through a hall filled with her own stuffed animals. I wish I'd taken a picture of Morgan following behind her, browsing the items Marley had chosen not to buy.

I did take pictures of the next phase of the sale...the same process but with all of her other items--everything but the plush ones!

By the time the sale was over, Marley had repurchased many of her belongings, but we'd also filled two bags with unwanted items and moved a few things to Morgan's room. It was a fun way to get her to go through her things and give her room a much-needed dusting!

Lego Friends: Friend, Not Foe

There's been a lot of talk about the new Lego Friends collection recently.  I've heard several interviews on NPR with angry commentators and bloggers who argue that these new Legos, designed for girls, are perpetuating gender stereotypes and negatively impacting the girls who choose to build and play with them.  For a few days it felt like whenever I turned on the radio I heard another angry woman bemoaning this new Lego line.

Why?  Because some of the blocks are pink and purple.  Because the people are not boxy--they have curvy figures and more human-like features.  Because one of the sets is a beauty shop. 

I think these arguments are silly.  There are plenty of blocks that are white, brown, black, and blue.  And Lego people have come a long way since the early robot-esque figures.  Most of the sets are interesting with lots to play with--a vet clinic, a tree house, a cafe, and a dog show, to name a few.  These Lego sets are not harming my daughters; they are inviting them to play with a toy that was otherwise not very interesting to them.  And best of all, they build these sets with Daddy.

I'm glad that my girls have the choice to play with Legos that appeal to them, especially since these sets do not involve weapons, tanks, or other forms of devastation as so many of their other collections do.  Where are the angry bloggers complaining about the violent Lego toys?

The Next Frontier

The talk of blogging has been swirling around me for quite some time, but this morning when I offered to help a fourth grade teacher prepare a series of minilessons to teach her students how to blog, I decided it was time to dive in.  So this is my first blog post, and it is little more than a confession that I've never blogged...and that I need to head into this new frontier so I can actually figure out how to teach blog-writing strategies to fourth graders.  Why would we want to teach fourth graders to blog?  Because for now, blogs are the way many people get the news, form opinions, or develop hobbies.  When these fourth graders are out in the world, who knows what new genre supported by what new technology will be their main source of information.  But for now...this is it.  So kids better understand how to communicate in this forum without being disrespectful, inappropriate, or vain.  Online etiquette, solid grammar/usage/mechanics skills, effective communication, digital responsibility...there are so many lessons here that I am anxious to get started.