Bratz...the place I never thought I'd go

Having another child in the house has really had an impact on my perfect parenting of N...snicker, snicker. And I have obviously not learned a thing in these last 4 years about saying what I will and will not ever do.

This weekend I let N rent a Bratz DVD, an act that raised the eyebrows of both D and my MIL. I didn't see it as being particularly revolutionary but then again I know my daily life with N and the conversations that go on in my head about said life.

A couple things to bear in mind:

• When N was an infant I was so psycho about her NOT being exposed to tv, I would go into other people's homes and ask them to turn off the tv to keep my precious baby's brain from rotting before my very eyes and oozing out her ears.
  
• Now, after therapy and meds, I have mostly gotten over the whole tv thing and let her watch a variety of shows including The Little Mermaid and Kim Possible on Disney Channel.
• Prior to letting her watch Kim Possible, she checked out a KP book from the library and we read about her. This is one of the things I try to insist on as much as is feasible--we read the book and know the story prior to watching the movie/tv show.
• There was a time when I adamantly said "No way will my child EVER, EVER, EVER have anything to do with Bratz-related toys." This was long before I had a 4-year-old who sees commercials for Bratz-related DVDs on tv on a regular basis.
  
• N knows that she gets presents 2 times a year--Christmas and her birthday. She also knows that certain things, like Bratz and American Girl dolls, are for girls ages 8+. So I'm not completely feeding her to the advertising hounds.
  

On Saturday, she saw this Bratz Fairy Tale DVD so I let her get it. I figure she knows the fairy tales so how harmful can it really be? I did hear one of the Bratz girls say, "Loser," but that is the extent of anything inappropriate I heard. N one of the girls on the DVD look trashy or anything. Like space aliens with their big freaky eyes---yes, but not slutty in the least.

Now there are limits to the Bratz spell she seems to be under. The Mariah Carey-dressing Bratz girl DVDs will not come into the house (but notice I'm not saying ever).

All of a sudden she just seems to be "into" bigger girl things. She goes bananas every time she sees a Hannah Montana shirt in a store, even though she has never seen the show. The Disney Channel shows Miley Cyrus videos sometimes from which N learned how to flip her head like a rocker from Bon Jovi or Poison--real head-banging stuff. It is a little unsettling to see her show off her new skills and yet really pretty cute because she is only 4.

Well, I'm not gonna lose sleep over this....at least not tonight.