Urban Thought Collective

Kudos to Michelle Obama, for putting the makers of Beanie Babies on blast for those unauthorized Sasha and Malia dolls. A few days after the Inauguration, the Ty toy company announced that it had added two new plush dolls, “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia,” to its TyGirlz collection. The company claimed that these were not replicas of the Presidential daughters, but the First Lady of the United States (along with everybody else in the world) saw through that. Mrs. Obama put Ty Inc. in check with a simple, no-nonsense statement by her spokesperson: “We feel it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes.”

Beautifully and correctly stated.

Sasha and Malia Obama may be the daughters of the President of the United States but they are private citizens. They are also minors and no one has the right to make money off of them without their mom and dad’s permission. Ty Inc. was way out of line trying to use these children to cash in on Obama-mania. But now that Michelle has given the dolls a very public thumbs-down, I expect them to sell about as briskly as snow cones in Antarctica.

There’s another issue concerning the Obama children that’s bugging me. What’s up with parents trying to dress their daughters like the First Kids? The day after Barack won the election parents ran out to Nordstrom trying to find the simple red dress that Malia wore to the victory rally in Chicago’s Grant Park. I understand the same thing has happened with the J. Crew coats that the girls wore on Inauguration Day. That’s crazy to me! People buying clothes for their kids just because the new President’s daughters wore them? What’s the purpose of that?

That’s a serious question. Somebody, please, explain it to me.

I mean, Malia’s dress was nice but so are a hundred other dresses available for girls her age. Ditto the Inauguration Day coats. So, why go out of your way to buy the exact same style and color for your kid? Is this merely an attempt to be cool and one-up the other parents? “My daughter has the Malia Dress and the Sasha Coat!” Or are you hoping that some Obama-ness will rub off on your girls, somehow making them better kids?

I know how proud we all are of the Obamas and I know how much we admire their children. Sasha and Malia are great role models, particularly for our little girls. My two daughters are in their same age group and are definitely excited about the First Daughters. They’d love to hang out with them at the White House or invite them to ride bikes in the park near our house. But they don’t want to be the Obama girls. They certainly have not asked me to buy them duplicates of Sasha and Malia’s clothes. I don’t think any kids have actually asked their parents to do that.

No doubt most of the parents who raced to the Nordstrom and J. Crew girls’ departments had the best of intentions. But I worry that “Dressing Like the Obama Girls” could backfire and actually damage our children’s self-esteem by causing them believe that — instead of discovering and developing all the things that make them wonderful and unique — they should try to be like somebody else’s kid.

As a rule I think following trends is a bad idea. It’s rather sheep like to make personal decisions based on what “everybody else” is doing. Now, if you see another person or group of people doing, wearing, buying or listening to something and you genuinely like that thing, then by all means (as long as its harmless) jump on it. But far too many people make life choices based on the movements of the crowd rather than their own personal tastes. It’s bad enough when grown folks do this but it can be tragic for kids.

Among self-doubting youngsters (which is the majority of them, I think) the perceived need to fit in with pre-determined in-groups can be overwhelming. But changing one’s behavior to fit in rarely helps youngsters feel better about themselves, especially if they have to hide or suppress their authentic selves to do this. (One of the reasons the first “High School Musical” was so popular is that it exposed this awful fact of kid life.)

So, if your daughter needs a new dress or a new coat, buy her one that makes her feel pretty and confident. If it happens to look like something the Obama girls wore, cool. If it doesn’t then that’s cool, too. They may not live in the White House but those little girls are our First Daughters!

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my Two Cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Cameron Turner is a Los Angeles-area native whose editorials, entertainment news features and audio documentaries have appeared on national radio networks, online and in print for over 20 years.