Daily Archives: October 29, 2011

3 posts

Help a Pre-teen

Remember when you were in the pre-teen/early teen years? Those can be particularly awful years, especially if you are a girl. Cattiness, cliques and awkward times were the hallmark of those years for me. Sadly, it seems to be a similar experience for my oldest daughter. This is where you Crassers come in.

A little background: my daughter attends a school that she enrolled in when she was in 5th grade. Most kids have been there since pre-school and it is a very small community. There is one girl in particular who appears to get great joy in pointing out every error, flaw or flub my 12-year-old does/has in order to garner laughs from the rest of the class. She is bossy and nasty and dances on the line of bullying. Now, I could go to the administration and have this stopped – and I still might – but I want to try to empower the eldest wildkid to do it herself first. Continue reading

Are Sing-a-ma-jigs Cute, Cuddly Fun or Something Else Entirely?

I’m left a little baffled by this toy. On one hand I get what it’s supposed to be. It’s some sort of Elmo-esque plush toy that does what plush toys of the new millennium do. They sing and dance, or shake, and tremble, or whatever else palsy-ridden toys should do nowadays. Why? I have no idea. I’m from the world of soft teddy bears and Raggedy Ann dolls. I never got the appeal of the singing/talking stuffed toy, the Teddy Ruxpins of the toy world. In fact that thing was downright scary! It was like it could read your mind and then rat you out to adults. Sheesh. It was a monster. Now then…the Sing-a-ma-jigs by Fisher Price? Singing flesh eaters? Beloved best toy ever? I dunno.

There is also something about it that may be a bit unsettling. Continue reading