What did they do?!

I cannot believe what they did to Strawberry Shortcake! The tragedy! The outrage! Sweet little Miss Shortcake went from wholesome, innocent, rag doll naivety to tight-fitting clothes and a headful of hair extensions. Nobody's hair is that long and thick on its own, and they even used a straightening iron on her! I loved her yarn hair, perhaps b/c my own hair is curly. Where are her freckles? Who tripled the size of the berry-scented girl's eyes? Who took off her brown clunkers and put on hot pink ballerina shoes? I'm 33 and grew up with Strawberry Shortcake and her sweet-smelling friends, back when it was okay to have a round face, wear clothes cut by the designer (someone at JC Penney or Sears where layaways still existed) for a child's body, with fabric that didn't sparkle, without exclamations and proclamations of being a princess, or a hot chick, or a heart breaker. There was no Paris Hilton to emulate, there was Wonder Woman and Mary Lou Retton. Where did it all go wrong? And when? My clothes never looked like an exact replica of my teenaged cousin's girlfriend's, and I had no idea what they were doing in the back seat of his car. I saw a onesie at the store the other day with a picture of a chick that said, "Hot Chick." A BABY'S clothes! And one for a boy that exclaimed, "Mothers, lock up your daughters." Needless to say, this one frightened me the most. I don't have children of my own, and it's just as well, b/c I would not indulge my daughter's modern, peer-pressured demands for everything hot pink, or refusal to play outside. I would not lie to my daughter and tell her she is a princess and that life is all poofy fru-fru boy craziness. Instead I would teach her to use her mind instead of her body, and that getting dirty outside is awesome. Goodbye Strawberry Shortcake and hello Princess Shortcake, I'll miss you!