Silly Bandz....oh dear.

So, I was at work the other day when two of my coworkers came up with these little rubber bands with kinks in them on their wrist. They were giggling and excited and then started trading them.

"I've got a dolphin..."
"I've got a dinosaur!"
"I've got no idea what's going on..."

So, what they had were these things called "Silly Bandz," the latest and greatest craze to hit the elementary school market. Following in the fine tradition of Pokemon cards, Beanie Babies, and Slap Bracelets, these bands can be collected, traded, and played with. I was shocked to see 21-year-olds getting excited over these things as well, but I'm never one to discourage being young at heart, so have at it, girls.

This is the first collectable craze I've seen in years and the first in which I have not been in the target age group, which makes me wonder "what's the big deal?" I'm trying to remember my childhood (oh so long ago...) when beanie babies were popular and pokemon were traded like they were gold. And yes, I did pay $0.35 for a Pikachu card (which I still own), so I remember the whole excitement part of it. But rubber bands in the shapes of animals? At least there was a game behind Pokemon. They've already been banned in many schools, including some schools in Raleigh for being distracting.

So what's the big deal with collectables and why are they always targeted at 9-year olds? Perhaps it's because 9-year olds are at that age where they are old enough to demand things like the from their parents and young enough for their parents to allow it. Maybe it's because fourth grade is really THE year that children (especially girls) start forming cliques and determining the social hierarchy of their class. Are YOU cool enough to have a rubber band shaped like a princess?

If you've ever read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, you'll remember the scene with Amy and the beans. Much like the Silly Bandz, beanie babies, and pokemon cards, beans were the hot commodity between young students, and Amy desperately wanted some so she could be cool like the rest of the kids. That was in the 19th century, which shows that this isn't a new phenomenon and sadly, most likely won't end for a long time.

Last year I taught fourth grade catechesis (Catholic Sunday School) and saw this trend among the girls of my class. Even though it was a Christian setting, the clique-building had already begun. We made rosaries and I had a bunch of beads. There were only a handful of these blue glass beads and their scarcity made them the most sought-after item. In the end, the girls who were the "popular" girls had a bunch of the blue beads in their rosaries while the less-popular girls only had a few; the least popular girl had none. It broke my heart to see this because I remember being the girl who didn't get any of the blue beads when I was in fourth grade.

I'm glad that these Silly Bandz are getting banned in schools- not because they are distracting, but because they are essentially a tool for deciding who the popular kids are, which will lead to bullying, especially among the girls. Sure they're made of sugar and spice and everything nice, but little girls can be some of the cruelest creatures in the world.