The Berjuan Toy Company, located in Spain, has developed a toy called the "Breast Milk Baby", the purpose of which is to help "...young girls express their love and affection in the most natural way possible, just like mommy!"
Are you kidding me? Is there no end to what a toy company will do to sell merchandise?
Call me old-fashioned, call me short-sighted, or call me a prude, but there is no way I could ever deem this to be an appropriate toy for my daughter.
Young girls these days, it seems, are being brought up in a world where motherhood is glorified. And while I have no problem with the message, I do have a problem with the timing of its delivery—could we please allow our daughters to be little girls before we start teaching them how to be mothers?
The ability to love and nurture another is a lesson that can be learned without props like this one, and it's past time that we, as consumers, start drawing the line on what should and should not be appropriate entertainment for our children.
I, for one, would not encourage the purchase of this item for any girl/woman who is not an expectant mother—I see some value in this item as a teaching tool for expectant/new mothers who want to learn some of the fundamentals of breast-feeding—as, again, I find little value in it.
That said, I am certain there are many who will buy this item without a second thought because it's "just a toy" and, while I can respect that perspective, I feel a need to reiterate the point of the impressionable minds of our young girls.
Don't allow them to grow up too fast. Let them enjoy being babies before they start learning how to care for one.
Just my two.
