This picture was taken last Wednesday, February 1st! When backpacks are lined up outside, it gives parents a heads up to pick their kids up on the playground. The playground, on February 1st! This has been a weird, warm, snow less winter. I am curious about the line up of backpacks. I wonder if the kids or the parents picked them out. I wonder if they are hand me downs from big brothers and sisters. I wonder if it is possible to find a plain backpack anymore that isn't an advertisement for a television show, a movie or a line of toys. I wonder how long it might be before I see a "Glee" backpack in front of preschool.
For these reasons precisely, we will probably always buy our kids backpacks from L.L. Bean or Lands' End. Not to say that we have zero licensed apparel and products at our house, because we certainly do, but I have noticed that for a few more dollars, you get much better quality from these catalog houses, and as an added bonus, you don't have to look at Thomas/Mickey Mouse/Dora/etc. every day for years and years.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it does seem that my kid is the only one without a licensed character backpack. Or snowboots!
And no, in case anyone is wondering, I do *not* think that our family is "better" than other families due to the kind of backpack my child carries. This is just what works for our family and for our preferences.
ReplyDeleteIt IS possible to buy a plain backpack. My four-year-old has one. And actually, it's kind of nice because he's the only one in his class with one like it so he doesn't ever confuse it with someone else's. The scary thing is that the PLAIN backpacks were more expensive than the TV character backpacks. But the plain ones can be decorated any way you want them from year to year. :)
ReplyDeleteI just figure I am not getting a financial kickback from the company that my child would be the walking billboard for, so plain backpacks it is around here, well until those kickbacks start showing up that is! :) Then I might reconsider.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with Disney backpacks. I let Connor pick out his own backpack this year, and he was actually excited to go to school, not me carrying him in kicking & screaming. So, if a backpack can help, then big deal if it is Disney. He likes it. It makes him happy to go to school. It hurts no one.
ReplyDeleteI think most parents would agree with me on this, but would never speak up.
I agree with Heather on this one and will speak up. Before Lucy was old enough to care, I thought I would be a parent who avoided all commercial child items. And while I still think it is important to raise my children with non-materialistic values, I think I can do this while still allowing Lucy the joy of her Dora backpack and Hello Kitty snow boots.I was raised in the cabbage patch doll era and loved my scooby doo lunchbox, and yet from an early age my values included compassion, and social justice.I always knew that I would focus my life on those things, rather than having an expensive car or marble countertops.I guess what I am saying is don't judge me because I allow some Disney princesses!I really do understand the concerns of parents about the commercials focused on our kids, and try to be aware of them. Unfortunately, this has become just one more way for parents to judge each other and non-character items have become status symbol of more "enlightened parenting".
ReplyDeletethat is what i call "nail hitting the head"
DeletePS, still have that scooby doo lunch box?