Don't Mess with the First Mom

Besides re-introducing chartreuse (while looking fabulous in it, I might add), what were we expecting of our new First Lady during her first week? While every First Lady seems to pick various causes to support, Michelle Obama's first action was to align herself with mothers everywhere by extending her Mama Bear claws to protect her children.

TY is the company which was known for introducing Beanie Babies. Beanie Babies turned into collectors' items which left generous aunts aghast as their nieces immediately ripped the tags off their Princess Diana Beanies. (Can you tell that this actually happened in my family, my daughter being the ungrateful wretch who was more interested in playing with her toy than eventually profiting from it?) Collectors, determined to profit from their perfectly preserved, originally tagged, cutely named beanbags, were eventually left with tons of inventory and no demand.

TY has now decided to introduce its newest Girlz, "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha." But Maternal Michelle isn't going for it! (If I were to become First Lady, my cause would be to eradicate the use of  "Z" as a letter with which to make words plural in an effort to add a little "gangsta" panache to any word.)

Okay...maybe most of us don't have to worry about someone taking our children's names and likenesses and trying to profit from them. But we share a discomfort when someone we don't know is taking pictures at a kids' park. We cringe when we see 5-year olds made up like Vegas showgirls to compete in "Little Miss" pageants. Many bloggers use pseudonyms for their children for fear that using their real names might somehow allow them to be exploited. And many Moms avoid potentially limiting adjectives to describe their daughters, hoping that they don't miss the opportunity to be "marvelous" because they have been labeled "sweet."

Michelle, I'm sure that during your term(s) as First Lady you will make us proud by adopting issues and causes that are critical to our country and complementary to your husband's agenda. But I, for one, applaud your first action...to protect your family. Yes, you can! And yes, you will! And yes, we all can.

Di

Comments

[joAnn]

I thought the dress was yellow, the color of hope. At least that is what all the talking heads were saying all day long.

I totally agree about the inappropriateness of these dolls. TY should be ashamed. I also thought that most of what was written about Bristol Palin was inappropriate.....a shame that no hue and cry was raised about that by anyone other than her parents.