Eos lip balm
has become very popular. From elementary school classrooms to college lecture
halls, these egg shaped lip moisturizers can be found in many female’s
possession. They are natural and organic lip balms that I can say from
experience work very well. They come in various colors and scents that cost
about three dollars at Walmart or Target, and a little more than four dollars
at drugstores. After a couple months of using my regular chapstick, I gave in
and bought a reddish colored one, called summer fruit. The downside is the egg
shape does not fit in wristlets and makes an awkward bulge in pockets. Half the
time I end up not having mine with me which defeats the purpose.
I got sucked
into this trend, as did many of fifth grade girls in my field study class. The
girls call them their “babies” and are pretty much obsessed. One girl has all
ten flavors, five in each pocket. While this is all fine and good, and although
I am judging her mother who she said bought them all for her, these eggs are
becoming quite a distraction and problem.The girls
have been not so quietly competing with each other about how many Eos they
have. One girl, who has outwardly said she likes to be different and stand out,
bought the tangerine Eos which no one else had, until the little girl walked in
with all ten kinds. This created quite a problem in their ten year old group. In
the beginning of the day, they often gather and talk about their Eos. While
they are doing nothing wrong, as people are just coming in and putting their
backpacks away and taking out materials, I really feel for the girls outside of
this circle without an Eos who look on longingly. I have been trying to change
the conversation to something that includes everyone, but these girls are sure
interested in their lip balm.
In the two
fifth grade classrooms that I am in , our homeroom and the class we switch to
for science and math, Eos have been banned from being used. They have been very
distracting with students playing with them during lessons, and lining them up
on their desks. This takes care of the distraction piece, but the competition
does not go away. I think things like this should not be allowed to be brought
to school. The only problem is that these are technically just chapsticks, so
banning them would be difficult. The competition would also continue because
students would most likely continue talking about them. I know this type of
social problem occurs very often, especially in schools, but I feel like
something needs to be done so that students are not feeling left out, or
feeling the need to compete with their peers.
I really don't think there is a way to stop this problem. If they aren't talking about who has the most or the better chapstick out of them all or who doesn't have one, then they would be doing the same thing with a different object or product. So if the chapstick did get banned from the school, even though it is very unlikely, the children would move onto something else like an endless chain of competition.
ReplyDeleteThe same sort of thing happens every couple of years. In the 90s it was Pogs, Tamagatchis, Pokemon (cards and gameboy games), Furby, so on. It would be unrealistic to expect schools to go and ban every new trend coming along... Especially with children in the 5th grade. Those girls are still learning self awareness and empathy, and this is cycle. It won't stop or change, and seems to be a normal stepping stone in life. As the comment above me states, the children would move on to something else.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of reminds me of silly bands. When I had my summer camp, Every 4-7 year old had arms full of them. They can be distracting, and younger kids usually fight over them. I remember it the same way with pokemon cards when I was in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first two posters. When I was in grade school, we were all obsessed with collecting stickers, Furbys, pony dolls with long hair and yes, even scented lip balm - though it was candy flavored Lip Smackers back then.
ReplyDeleteChildren will inevitably find something new to amass and obsess over, after one trendy item is banned from schools. Such is life! I think our time is better spent teaching children to question materialism and to practice values like inclusion and empathy, rather than hyper-focusing on banning specific items in schools.