Unfortunately, she met her demise at the hands of two rowdy and rascally young lads, aka Tony and Thomas, my brothers. Like Humpty Dumpty, she broke her crown, was felled down and never did dance again. Sigh.
But that did not end my childhood. I moved on to Barbie dolls and GI Joe's, coloring books and puzzles, books. That's a natural part of childhood.
What's not a part of childhood? Push up swimsuits brought to by the oh so creative folks at Abercrombie.
Ashley is the push up triangle swimsuit for girls ages 7-14 years old. Push up what, exactly? And why? The pool of females with breasts is shrinking so you need to move down to children? Abercrombie has decided that pedophiles need more encouragement?
I have sons so I know not of little girls. But I am a "girl" and was a young girl many years ago. I had no thought of push up bras at the age of 7. I played with dolls. I played with my sister and brother, friends, my cousins. I had not an inkling in my brain of a bathing suit that would push up my non-existent breasts.
I know I am my own harshest critic when it comes to my body and self image. As I age, I have started to care less about what people think of me and have become more appreciative of my beauty. I'm not being vain here, but when I smile as I watch my kids play baseball with the warmth of the sun on my face, or I'm laughing with my girlfriends or snuggling with my puppies on the couch watching the Blind Side for the umpteenth time, you would enjoy the best part of my beauty. It's taken almost 47 years to get there, but I'm a work in progress.
Let's make sure that the little girls in our lives get to that point in a much shorter period of time than the previous generations. Let them understand and know that they are beautiful and they don't need a push up triangle swimsuit top at any point in their lives to prove that. And finally, Abercrombie, in the words of Cee Lo Green, f*ck you.
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