You're quite right. I had one of the early Barbie dolls as a kid (oh how rich I'd be if I'd never, you know, played with it then sold it as an adult). I never considered her proportions as anything to do with me; she was just a doll I could make clothes and stuff for, or make a clay Lens so I could play Lensman or stuff like that (I did wish she was better articulated so she could ride my toy horses). Really not much different than the other doll someone gave me as a present who was proportioned rather more like a 10 year old and had national costumes from other countries arrive every month for a few months until the subscription ran out. Fortunately, I had sensible parents.

Then there's my daughter who didn't much care for dolls as a kid* so when people insisted on giving her Barbies for her birthday used them for target practice with water balloons. It's a TOY.

*so now as an adult she has an ever growing collection of asian ball joint dolls which I refer to collectively as "the grandchildren" when I want to be silly.

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I know what you mean about chess. I spent 4 years co-running an annual kids tournament, and some of the parents were horrible. You know the scenes in "Searching For Bobby Fischer" where Josh's father takes him to his first scholastic chess tournament? Whoever was writing those scenes did their research.

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To illustrate your point on competitiveness in youth sports, pageants, etc., I was very much competitive when I was a hatchling. I wanted to be the best at everything I could...and given my condition, I had to work and fight that much harder. And if there was anyone harder on me than myself, then I must've not seen them in the crowd or something.

Nowadays, you've got parents belittling kids and rioting in the stands...and why? Because they never got to achieve half of what they did when they were kids? Because they think that they've got the mext Reggie Bush/Alex Ovechkin/Derek Jeter or whoever and is expecting to live off them when they make it to the pros and are playing under multimillion-dollar contracts? Whatever happened to "love of the game", or "doing your best and being satisfied with it until the next game"? Is this what we wanna install in our kids?

I just hope that I'm not the overbearing football/soccer/baseball/hockey dad when I get my own kids. I know that I'll probably end up arguing a call or getting in the face of an official because, let's face it, I know that I've never lost my competitive spirit. But if I ever go too far, then I might as well have my better half taking them to their games and having her record them for me.

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Yeah, had a moment of silliness when I heard about that.

Yep, gives girls unrealistic beauty standards, like having all yer teeth and only having five toes on each foot.

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