I was waiting to get my hair cut today, and in a couple of chairs close to me sat an older woman and a child. When I sat down the woman was reading to the child, which is a completely commendable thing to do as far as I'm concerned. After a while, however, the girl lost interest in the story, paying more attention to the birthday cake that was being distributed to the stylists and patrons. Promised a bit when her grandmother was having her hair done, she settled back down, and wanted to play with her dolls.Now, when my sister was growing up, she had the mermaid Barbies, the one with the 'tail' that fit over the legs. The two this girl had were completely mermaid, no legs, just plastic tails. So the two of them are playing, and the grandma asks the name of one of the dolls. 'Mrs Shelly,' replies the girl. 'We should call her violet, because her hair is all purple, and violet.' 'No, it's Mrs. Shelly.' 'But Violet would be a much better name.' And more of the same. She also went on to completely try and tell the girl how to play with the dolls, paying no attention to what she was saying unless to correct her.

And this really depresses me. Let your grandkid call her doll what she wants. Let her use her imagination, let her think for herself, because pretty son she'll get older, and have to think how other people tell her to think for grades, friends, and so on. There's more than one teacher out there who wants you to think exactly the same way they do- if you think a book is crap, you can't say it because it's one of their favourites. The media wants you to think a specific way, the politicians, people knocking at your door, the list goes on.

consider myself very lucky that growing up, my parents never tried to curtail my creative impulses. Even when I went through a phase of drawing naked women at about 12 years old, I think they were glad I was drawing. We went to church on occasion, but I was never told 'you must think this.' To tell you the truth, I didn't even know that my Dad was Catholic until I started looking at a Catholic University. My Mum told me growing up that she believed when you die you just go to sleep, and if you're aware of anything it's like floating in a cool mist. But they never told me I had to think a certain way. So to hear today a grandmother telling her granddaughter what she should call her own fricking dolls, upsets me.

I have very little to do with kids. None of my local friends have them (or if they do, they're kept away from me). I'm not planning on having kids, although if it does happen I'm not adverse to the idea (yeah, I know, I've changed). Is this common in raising children nowadays? Suggesting everything for them, telling them what they should and shouldn't call their toys? Teaching them how to play? Because I think that's one of the most important things people lose as they grow up: the ability to have fun. I mean really. People say they play golf to have fun, or go out and meet people in the bar, but how many people do you know who play a sport and get pissed off because they fuck up a couple of shots and it ruins their whole day? Or have a shitty time in the bar cos they didn't pull? People need to learn how to have fun again before they try teaching kids how to do it, because I think it's one of the many things we should let kids teach us how to do. How to have fun, how to enjoy yourself with a simple empty cardboard box instead of all the shit that's inside it. Our lives are cardboard boxes we fill with crap to try and make ourselves happy/successful/admired. Shouldn't the box be enough?