Labubu Laboohoo
My 7 year old daughter E got a Labubu for Christmas. She has loved that toy since she opened it on Christmas Day and if it were up to me, E would not have gotten that for Christmas. It was not on any list, but someone got it for her nonetheless.
E was really excited to finally get a Labubu and immediately started to design clothes for it. My wife told her she couldn’t get any clothes for it since we didn’t want to spend more money (on something so silly in my opinion), so it motivated E to get creative. We also set some ground rules because I know it would cause some Laboohoos.
I did not want E to comment on anyone’s Labubus or Lafufus (fake Labubus for the uninitiated). I barely even knew what a Labubu was myself, but I already could see this causing problems. I told E that even an innocent comment coming from a good place about how different someone’s toys were to hers could be hurtful. She quickly understood and made sure to keep that in mind. We also didn’t want her to bring it to school everyday, especially if it rained. It would become a distraction (and honestly it could cause problems).
It turned out that one of the days E brought it to school, some older girls were making fun of her Labubu. They were teasing her that there was not any clothes on her Labubu and it made E feel really sad. I knew those Labubus were going to cause Laboohoos!
E told me on the car ride one weekend when I was taking her and her 5 year old brother C to coach soccer. She said those girls made her feel sad and I gave her some ideas on how to push back, including how to tell those girls that she designed clothes for her Labubu and that anyone could by clothes…it took talent to make it. E did make this awesome pink fuzzy hoodie for her Labubu out of an unused and old fuzzy pink sock she got from school. That made E feel better.
I didn’t want E to buy into consumerism too. I kept reinforcing that over the next few days and we shouldn’t buy stuff if we don’t need it. We can make stuff and be creators. I particularly didn’t like Popmart (the makers of Labubu) creating false scarcity for certain versions of Labubu. I taught E what that meant so she knew not to fall into that trap (and to want mystery boxes just to get one type of Labubu). All in all, it ended up fine as a gift and there were some good lessons that came out of that toy. I just hope there are no more Laboohoos in the future!
