Toys Gone Wild

By: Chris Young, Google for Education Innovator, Apple Certified Teacher, & Parent

Happy New Year! I didn’t expect to be sitting at my computer on New Year’s day writing my feelings, but here I am. Like many families with young kids, New Year’s day seemed like the perfect day to get some of the Christmas gifts that haven’t been played with yet out of their boxes. One of those presents that my daughter Paige received is why I am here now, and if I’m being frank, it pisses me off. Before I can explain why, I need to rewind.

Sometime about 6 weeks ago...

My six year old daughter Paige asked Santa for a STEM Kit from Project MC2. As a former Science teacher, I was honestly incredibly proud and excited. In my field of #edtech there has been a massive push to get girls more involved in STEM, and this push for girls in STEM seems to have reached my daughter! That’s amazing.

When we went to go look at the kits, they were actually advertised as STEAM (even better), but I would be lying if I wasn’t a little disappointed that most of the Project MC2 stuff seemed to center around vanity. In fact the kit that my daughter wanted, was one to create your own lip balm. To be completely honest, I do not like the idea of Paige thinking she needs make-up because she’s beautiful as she is, but girls wear make-up, and that’s likely a conversation that my wife and I will have to navigate it into the future.

Paige really wanted this though. As I said, it was packaged through a STEAM frame as a Science experiment to make some lip balm. I think we can get girls motivated about Science and STEM without using the frame of make-up, but that’s a whole other post. Ultimately, Santa delivered, and Paige was thrilled.

January 1st, 2020…

We got the toy out! In the experimental design process, Paige got to choose from different scents, colors, and even how much shimmer her lip balm would contain. We melted down wax, created different solutions, made observations, and more. Paige loved it.

Truthfully, the STEAM advertisement (including the A!) was a good representation. Project MC2 made my daughter excited to be a scientist, and that still remains today.

At this point, you’re like, why is this guy upset!?! Everything seems great, actually better than great… fantastic! Well, I would have given Project MC2 lip balm glowing reviews, but then I went to toss the packaging in our recycling and I was hit with a tidal wave of disappointment and anger.

The Problem With Packaging...

On both sides of the packaging, was imagery of a fake social media post advertising the ability to stack balms and wear it… It had imagery of a young girl making 'duck lips' applying the lip balm and receiving “8k” likes. It made me immediately angry.

First of all, this product is advertised for 6 years and older, and never mind the fact that kids aren’t given access to Social Media platforms until they are at least 13 years old. My 6 year old daughter does not need to be targeted in an advertisement from Project MC2 Science kits that her worth is measured by the amount of likes that she receives on a photo.

In fact, this ‘likes’ problem is so pervasive that even Instagram is going to hide the number of likes because as a society we have become obsessed with it. Teens and even adults struggle with it, so why is this being shared with 6 year old?!

A Call To Action...

I love that we are encouraging rather than dissuading girls in coding, STEM, STEAM, and all things technology. As a parent, I love that I have seen STEM in her Kindergarten classroom, and I love that it’s extended beyond that into Christmas gifts.

As I write this on New Year’s Day…I share a call to action. In 2020, I’d love for the STEM push to reach girls without the direct message that their true worth is measured by social media ‘likes.’ Project MC2 should do better for the girls that they are trying to serve. I’ll continue to be the best parent for Paige that I can be, but it’s hard out there. We don’t need to push our societal issues that many struggle with down to our youngest learners.