From the category archives:

Toys+Products

Let’s Make Our 8-Year-Olds Sexy!

It’s simply beyond me — the preschool beauty pageants, 7-year-old cheerleaders in perfect pedophile-friendly attire (and makeup), bralettes for grade schoolers, thongs for 1o-year-olds and push-up bikinis for kindergartners.  In a great CNN article by LZ Granderson, he says “What adult who wants a daughter to grow up with high self-esteem would even consider purchasing [...]

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Understanding The Nag Factor: Are You an “Indulger” or a “Conflicted” Parent?

My mom recently watched a documentary entitled “The Corporation” and sent me a few choice factoids from the film to share with all of you: Marketers play to the developmental levels of a child in their marketing strategies They hire child psychologists to devise ways to sell They spend $12 billion a year on research [...]

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Now: What To Do With All Those Stuffed Animals?

Now that the holidays are over, you may be feeling overrun with the net result of the seasonal gift-fest, especially when it comes to your kids’ toys.  And if “simplify and organize” is one of your New Year’s Resolutions, there may be nothing more exasperating than the sight of the cotton-stuffed menagerie taking over your [...]

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The Holidays are Here – Can You REMAIN CONSCIOUS?

As if the holidays weren’t overwhelming already, here’s the Red Pill Challenge: REMAIN CONSCIOUS.  This is no small task either, but if you can keep your wits about you and not let the holiday machine go into auto-pilot, you could make the season so much more joyous – what it’s meant to be anyway, right? [...]

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Plastic Bags, Part 3: The Good News, Plus Cute Reusables for Your Kids

Just joining us?  Catch up by reading Part 1 and Part 2 of this 3-part series. *** So now, here’s the good news on the plastic bag issue: governments and organizations are starting to take measures to encourage (or demand) decreased consumption of disposable plastic bags.  San Francisco literally outlawed them – over two years ago.  D.C. [...]

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Peep! Red Pill Readers Respond

We got a great response to our candy-free Easter alternative call for ideas.  Without further verbose ado, I will henceforth share some ideas with you that will help you make the basket-and-egg part of the holiday less of a mad clamor for sugary treats and more about welcoming Spring. (I will add one brief bit [...]

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Delay Gratification and Encourage Writing with a “Wish List Folder”

Red Pill Parents, I wanted to share with you a concept that I came up with (though I have learned from Red Pill Mama that she has a variation of my system in her home, so strength in numbers seems to indicate this is an idea that works). I am talking about “The Wish List [...]

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What Solves the Kids & Advertising Problem: Education, or Avoidance?

I love what Red Pill Papa is doing with his daughter (see his “New Study …” post), teaching her to recognize the persuasive intent behind commercials and to understand that despite the ads’ claims, a particular food or toy will not bring her everlasting happiness (quite the contrary, of course). What I’ve done is a [...]

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New Study Links Commercials in TV (Not Watching TV) to Obesity

This week in Red Pillville, obesity seems to be the featured topic. So when I was perusing articles that I had bookmarked for later reading on Instapaper, the piece entitled, “Commercials Are the Culprit in TV-Obesity Link,” by Tara Parker-Pope on the New York Times Blog caught my attention (you can read the article by [...]

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Digging Deeper into Skin Deep Products

My husband recently told me about a website he heard about on Howard Stern of all places: Skin Deep, a cosmetic safety database compiled by The Environmental Working Group. The site rates what appears to be an impressive variety of personal care products on a 1-10 scale, the results of which fall into a low, [...]

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