Every year, Eric and I get the kids their own special ornament. We try to find something special that reminds us of them. For example, this year Marlee got a play kitchen ornament because that's what she has played with literally all year long! With this being Rowan's first Christmas we wanted to get him something special too! The thing we decided on was to get him a baby! After all he is our sweet baby! :) So I was so excited when I went into the huge Christmas Ornament store to pick him out the perfect ornament. This particular store is known for having really cool ornaments and personalizing them with names and the date.Side note, another thing that Eric and I do every year is get a family ornament. That way, when the kids grow up and take all of their ornaments we will have something left to put on our tree. :)
As I walked into the store and scanned the ornaments my smile and excitement quickly turned to sadness. I was sad because out of the hundreds of ornaments that they offered, all of the people in EVERY.SINGLE.ORNAMENT. was white. In case you don't know me, this isn't what my family looks like. Eric and I are both white, but we have two beautiful black babies. I walked around the entire store and scanned every little ornament and found nothing.
Luckily my husband ended up calling at the PERFECT time saying that he had a surprise for me in the car (It was Starbucks of course) so that diffused the situation a little, or at least kept me from falling a part in their happy little store. I also ran into my sister in the store and explained everything to her and so we decided that we would get the same ornament.
There are times like these when it really sinks in that we live in a society that thinks mostly white. If you don't believe me, the next time you go to Walmart or Target take a look in the Barbie Aisle or the baby doll aisle. What color are the majority of the babies?
Please hear me. I'm not saying my daughter won't ever play with a white baby doll or that my son won't have little white action figures. It just hurts a little to walk down the aisle with them and only see a few out of hundreds of babies, barbies, or action figures that look like them. It also makes me wonder what's going on inside the head of my precious daughter. She hears all the time that she is so beautiful and special, yet she walks down the aisle to see all of these adorable babies and beautiful barbies that don't even share the same skin color as her. It just confirms that my job is so important as a mom to make sure that she knows WHO created her and that no matter what society or anyone thinks or says, she was fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14
Although this was such a deep, tough thing to go through we were still able to find the perfect ornament for our sweet Rowan! :) I purchased this from Etsy and the artist did an amazing job! :) JCB Design Studio!
4 comments:
Love the post. And I don't think it stirs up drama at all! Since the majority of my world is white, this isn't something I would have ever given thought to. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. As someone who will probably have a multiracial family one day, it makes me sad to think that one of my children's skin color isn't as "marketable" as the others. I think this is something you should bring to the attention of stores and toy manufacturers. Don't be afraid to make waves. Love you friend!
I had this snit a few years ago when there was not ONE black doll at the Cary Target and I was late to a birthday party for a little sweetie from Ethiopia. I asked to see the manager and stood there fuming and waving my arms around, showing him the full row of all white dolls. Even the black dolls look "white" when you find one. Their features and their hair are not true to life. It's so annoying. When I was in advertising, we had to bring in real people for a church ad, because none of the stock photography we could buy looked like ACTUAL black people. I think my four black kids are all gorgeous and I am hoping all our gorgeous kids will help change this sill world. Love you guys.
You make all the waves you can for that sweet boy! I, too, had major stress over the kids ornaments this year (we do the same tradition). I love looking at mine through the year and now explaining them to the kids. Fun stuff!
Shelly, I am way behind in reading your post! Wow...it is now 2016. This is an awesome post, and I just have to say, you and Eric are awesome parents!
When shopping, I will try and bring to the managers' attention the baby dolls and toys more often. Since the stores are trying to be more gender neutral, which I do not agree, why are they not more color conscious? Unbelievable!
Lots of love to you,
MOM and Grandma of 7 of the most amazing grandkids in the whole wide world.
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