holiday gift guide: gifts for young girls

we are having a great time sharing our great holiday picks for this season. if you haven't seen our gift list for arts and crafts, you can see it here. these toys are not only fun for us to explore but fun for our kiddos as well. these are our favorite gift ideas for little girls. they also bring out the little girl in all of us. 

gifts for girls:

my little pony equestria girls twilight sparkle doll and pony set

photo credit: amazon.com

my little pony has been a favorite of girls everywhere. with the new introduction of the movie "the equestria girls," hasbro expanded the my little pony collection into something even greater. the equestria girls dolls add a whole new dimension to imaginative play with my little ponies. watch the movie with your little ones today and watch how excited they get about these new dolls.

my little pony camelio earbuds

photo credit: amazon.com

so cute, right? my daughter loves music. she requests an ipod every time i ask her to clean her room or do any sort of chore. music makes her day brighter. so do these head phones. if you are going to listen to music, it might as well be adorable.

rainbow loom

photo credit: amazon.com

this really could go for boys, girls, young, pre-teen, any age. the new rubber brand bracelet craze had hit and these looms are hot items, along with the rubber bands that go with them. while i don't love the rubber bands i find all over my house, i do love how occupied the kids are when they are working on their creations. plus, it is great to see how excited the kids are to make something for someone else. 

disney doc mcstuffins doctor's bag

photo credit: amazon.com

this is listed under gifts for girls but both boys and girls love the toy fixing of doc mcstuffins. she makes all toys for both girls and boys better and happier. both boys and girls will love this doctor's kit to work on toys of their own...or to pretend they are doctors taking care of each other. 

sofia the first talking magical amulet

photo credit: amazon.com

i love the introduction of sophia the first into the disney junior line up. little girls everywhere have fallen in love with her. this amulet lets girls everywhere dress up like the princess they adore. 

my little pony walkie talkie

photo credit: amazon.com

who says boys are the only ones who get walkie talkies? these adorable walkie talkies are so fun for little girls. i love watching my little ones hiding around the yard and searching for one another on walkie talkies. who knows that is going on in their minds but listening to their back and forth chatter, they are smiling and laughing through it all. 

no more mean girls

i'm always shocked at how mean kids can be. for my daughter, it started in her three year old preschool class. you read that right, it started when she was three. kids started to say that they didn't like each other anymore. one girl refused to play with her. an older girl down the street called her a baby because she still loved to play with disney princesses.

for my oldest son, mean kids have come in all shapes and sizes. some have picked on him because he is younger than they are. some pick on him if they think they are better at sports than he is. i see it more often than i want to and it always spurs in me my "mama bear" protective mode. if i was being honest, i would just tell you that i want to tear those mean kids to pieces.

then i remember that once upon a time at different stages of my life, i have been less than kind. i don't remember being one of those people who go out of their way to exclude people, to bully, to leave people out. i have too much of a people pleasing nature (and excellent parents who taught me better) to do that. i do, however, remember laughing at people behind their backs. i remember my girlfriends and i in college using phrases like "there's your boyfriend" to draw our attention to a guy whose appearance didn't meet our oh-so-lofty standards. i may not have been a bully, but i was certainly a bit of a snob and i can look back at my younger self and feel ashamed of how much i judged people i didn't know.

the sad thing is, i still know adults who act this same way. mean girls still exist, well into adulthood. i've heard unkind words about how people dress, how they parent, how much they weigh, what their make-up looks like (how shallow can we be?). i've heard mother's criticized if they have kids who are misbehaving. i've heard people's unkind words based on nothing other than outward appearances. mean girls are alive and well. i'm starting to wonder when it will end.

when my own kids come home crying, i am reminded yet again the power of our words. i don't fight back. i don't post horrible things about the offending child on facebook. i don't encourage my kids to fight back. i certainly don't encourage my kids to use unkind words in retribution. i look my kids straight in the face. i tell them how wonderful they are. i pour compliments over them. i tell them ways they excel. i tell them how their unique gifts and talents were designed just for them and that they were created the way they were for a purpose. i tell them that it doesn't matter what someone else might say. i tell them that, whether they believe it or not, no one is exempt from mean girls. most importantly, i ask them to describe how they feel to me. when they share what is inside them, the hurt, the disappointment, the insecurities, i tell them to remember what that feels like so that if they are ever in a place when they have a chance to be unkind, they will chose the high road. if they can recall how bad it feels, i have found that they are less likely to inflict that pain on someone else and more likely to come to the aid of someone being picked on.

kids can be mean. i'm pretty sure i can't stop it from happening. i may just be one of those crazy people who hope that it happens to my kids at least once. i want them to learn compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. i want them to learn from any pain they are caused. i want them to learn that their worth is not dependent on the words of others. most importantly, i want to lead by example. i want them to find me being kind, appreciating people for what they are like inside, and recognizing that someone who makes me laugh is way more important than someone who wears designer clothing. i'm putting an end to whatever version of a mean girl once existed in me...and teaching my kids they can do the same.