The New Barbie: It's a Start #TheDollEvolves

In high school I worked at my local Old Navy in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. I'll never forget when walking the store I encountered a preschool aged girl who was staring intently at me as her mother pushed her cart. I greeted the little girl who didn't reply but just kept staring. Her mother explained sheepishly, "Oh excuse her - she's never seen a black girl before."

I was completely baffled. It wasn't like Columbus is devoid of black people and in my mind I wondered how could this have happened. Over the years this encounter stayed with me, and I've pondered if that mom ever showed her child diverse TV programming, sought out friends of color for her daughter or even bought her baby dolls of color. We are in the modern era and there really are no excuses! 

Now as a mom I'm very careful how I curate my children's toys and while the majority are gifted to us, early on I made a premature decision that I wasn't going to purchase Barbie dolls for my daughter or let her watch mainstream princess movies. Well, that went out the door quickly as Barbies started trickling in as gifts and others showed her princess movies when I wasn't around. And guess what? We're still alive!

I figured out it's not just about giving children dolls, but having conversations too. As a parent I have a role to play in how these things shape my children's self-image, and I understand how a lack of diversity in their toys, books and programming impacts them. I'm even more sensitive to this now living in an overwhelmingly homogenous state.

When I heard the news about yesterday's launch of the redesigned Barbie, I was excited that a major, worldwide brand was stepping up but I also saw it in context of the specific challenges I've faced in introducing dolls to my daughter as we're part of the African diaspora.

I shared my thoughts in an AP story published yesterday - here's a snippet:

The full story is here. 

Mr. Lovebird and I have discussed early on how to introduce both of our cultures and family history to Nia. As his family is Nigerian and mine is African-American we represent the enslaved and non-enslaved aspects of the African diaspora. As I mentioned in the article, the American Girl doll Addy was present in my childhood home, and while I have my childhood Samantha doll in our basement, I'm not sure how I feel about Nia playing with either. At least right now.

We've only purchased two dolls for Nia so far (remember the baby boy doll we used to do a gender reveal video with her?), and one of them is a Queens of Africa doll:

Image via Queens of Africa

Last year the brand made headlines when they overtook sales of Barbie in Nigeria. Incredible! I'm happy to hear this and support African businesses. 

Image via Natural Girls United

In addition to Queens of Africa, another brand representing the diversity of the African diaspora is Natural Girls United - I may have even considered some of these dolls hairstyles for my own next hairstyle!

While Nia enjoys playing with all her dolls, Barbie AND Queens of Africa, I was also inspired by Kelle Hampton's Barbie-themed 6th birthday party for her daughter. I may have geeked out a bit when she favorited my tweet (she's one of my favorite bloggers!):

I could see a party with a diversity of dolls for Nia being a hit - boys included! Grayson loves to play with Nia's dolls when she's away at school and refers to any Barbie as "meh-maaade" (mermaid). It cracks us up but we're all for it! 

Curious about the process behind how Mattel redesigned Barbie? Check out this video:

What are your thoughts on the redesigned Barbie? A step in the right direction?

Wordless Wednesday: Mall Family Photo Edition

My First Talk of 2016: The Art of Copywriting at Digital Portsmouth

Those of you who follow me on Instagram and Twitter saw my feed was buzzing last week when I gave my first talk of the year at Digital Portsmouth's The Art of Copywriting. 

(A huge thank you to Amy G. for capturing this shot!)

I've recapped below a few moments from #DigitalPorts on Twitter via Storify - thank you to those who tweeted!:  

Thank you to The Music Hall and Alpha Loft as well as my wonderful co-presenters Anna Goldsmith of The Hired Pens and Crystal Paradis from Vital. 

No Snow (& a Winner!)

My favorite shot from the weekend

While we didn't have snow up here in Portsmouth over the weekend, I was in touch with my sisters who were hit hard in NYC. Can you believe they barely  missed their record for most snow ever? My brother in Nashville got snow as well and being the big sister that I am checked in on him too. My parents in Dallas were thankful they missed the dumping that happened in their previous city of Baltimore and I've been furiously checking our forecast to see if any white stuff is coming our way any time soon.

Despite all this I know there were several lives lost in the snow storm including the tragic death of the husband of a fellow mom blogger Kita, in my virtual community. She's supported my blog for several years and I was devastated when I saw the alert posted in my Facebook bloggers group. I left the coloring group I was attending yesterday at my local library and found Uka in the kids'  section with tears in my eyes and showed him the news and GoFundMe page that was set up. Would you please take a look and consider donating?:

https://www.gofundme.com/dallenfamilyfund

My heart is heavy for Kita and her family, and I'm keeping her in my prayers. 

I know so many families were snowbound and suffering from a bit of cabin fever so today I'm sharing the winner of my Chuck E. Cheese's giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats Nicole - I'll be in touch shortly so you can get your prize. Thank you too to everyone who entered - it was fun reading all the cheesy memories!

Here's wishing everyone a safe and warm week. 

Did you get snow where you live? How are you managing?





P.S. Thank you to everyone for the on and offline support of my Digital Portsmouth talk last Thursday. It went really well and I'm working on doing a Storify to post here (1st time ever so be patient, please!). 

Tonight! Digital Portsmouth: The Art of Copywriting

As the East Coast gears up for the most epic snow storm since last winter, I'm in awe that we're getting spared, but I'm sending safe vibes everyone's way as the storm approaches. 

While I won't be battling snow, tonight I'm excited to present at Digital Portsmouth: The Art of Copywriting. This is also the 1st day of Alt Summit and while it's been 2 years since I've attended (my epic recap is here), I'm waiting with baited breath to hear where next year's locale will be as they've decided to leave Salt Lake City going forward. I'm crossing my fingers it'll come out East. 

So between the hashtag #DigitalPorts for tonight's talk and #AltWinter2016, there's a lot of great info about to be passed down. Be sure to follow along!

Are you prepping for snow where you live? Stay warm friends! 





P.S. Have kids in your life? Don't forget to enter my fun giveaway here - it's perfect for snow days!

Giveaway: Celebrate National Cheese Lover's Day with Chuck E. Cheese's!

Disclosure: I received a giveaway for one reader in exchange for this blog post; all opinions expressed are my own.

Remember when I shared about our first Chuck E. Cheese's experience a while back and how delicious their new pizza recipe is? Well in honor of National Cheese Lover's Day take a peek at what happened when Chuck E. Cheese's took to the streets of NYC to do a taste test of their new recipe:

It really is that good (and I got a behind the scenes peek and can vouch that it's handmade)! Well it's been on my mind lately because with our trip to Nigeria later this year we're home-bound for Nia's upcoming winter break so we've been pulling a list of fun local things we want to do. Chuck E. Cheese's made the cut as did ice skating, an indoor water park visit with our cousins in MA as well as bowling. It's going to be a fun week!

I'm sharing Chuck E. Cheese's love with one Harlem Lovebirds' reader who will win a Chuck E. Cheese's guest pass good for 1 large pizza, 4 fountain drinks and 30 tokens. 

The giveaway starts today, Wednesday, January 20 and ends Sunday, January 24, midnight EST, with the winner announced on Monday, January 25 (open to U. S. residents, adults 18+ only).

Enter via the Rafflecopter wide below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! 
 

MLK, Jr. Day 2016: A Family Day

This morning I dropped my mom off who came up for a 36 hour visit - a short detour from her trip to NYC where she was visiting my sisters. It was whirlwind for her (and just in time for a dumping of beautiful snow), but fun as usual! A few snapshots from our weekend (Mr. Lovebird's not pictured as he was under the weather, but thankfully is on the mend!):

(and yes, those are PJs Nana sewed for Nia's Christmas present - there's a mermaid tail blanket to match too!)

My mom finally got to partake in the wonder that is PiYo with me - it hard, but fun!

This is what happened when I told Nia to show me her "cake face!"

Back at the Children's Museum of NH for the first time since the Jingle Bell Express

Surprised she even knew how to use this!

He's obsessed with light switches lately so this was a dream come true.

Picked up a few crafting supplies for projects - a must when Nana's in town. 

Last year I posted this on my Instagram for MLK Day which is still timely; this year, I shared this:

You can see Shuan King's full album here, and the Lovebirds' first trip to the MLK memorial in Washington, D.C. here (including Lil Lovebird's special tribute when she was just shy of 3 years old!). 

Hope you had a thoughtful weekend!