My niece is turning three and the cake she wants is Barbie. On a horse. With a dog. And I smile when i speak to her mum. I offer to help plan the cake. I think how well exposed the kids these days are. They have a well informed view on life, a love of animals and most importantly, perspective. I don't know if I would have been so specific when I was three. The horses I was exposed to were beautiful bay geldings that were reserved for the Army Officers families to learn on. And a nice old fashioned wooden rocking horse. This, would not have been the horse I would have imagined.
And then I think about Barbie. I dont know if its true, but i remember reading that if Barbie was a person, she would fall over from the mismatch in balance. I see the kids around me and it scares me to hear 8-year-olds discuss weight, 13 year olds starve themselves and 15 year olds discuss sex even though they don't have the guts/ maturity to explore contraception/ safe sex practice.
I fought it. I continue to fight it. But I see that I am fighting a lost battle. In a world that is switching to organic, we turn the other way when it comes to weight loss. We condemn anoexia but diet nonetheless. We talk about preserving innocence but love the teenage models and barely legal music video divas.
In an innocent birthday cake, the future of our times flashes before me and I smile, but it scares me
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