Not to mention the negative impact fat-shaming has on overweight kids. There's ample evidence that the ever-narrowing standard of beauty creates vulnerability in our girls to low self-esteem, negative body image, eating disorders, poor sexual choices. When asked by researchers to swap a thin figure for a fat one, the girls not only recoiled but some refused to even touch the chubbier game piece making comments such as, 'I hate her, she has a fat stomach,' or 'She is fat. While in the past children that age showed little ability to distinguish between average and thin weights, today's wee ones grabbed thin pieces at higher rates not only than fat ones but than those of 'normal' weight. In another study, researchers engaged three-to-five-year-old girls in games of, yes, Candy Land as well as Chutes & Ladders, asking them to choose among three game pieces-a thin one, an average-sized one and a fat one-to represent themselves. In every category, the girls most often chose the 'sexy' doll. Using a different set of dolls for each question, the researchers then asked each girl to choose the doll that: looked like herself, looked how she wanted to look, was the popular girl in school, was the girl she wanted to play with. Both dolls, as you can see, were skinny and would be considered 'pretty' by little girls.

The girls were shown two dolls: One was dressed in tight, revealing 'sexy' clothes and the other in a trendy but covered-up loose outfit. Psychologists at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois used paper dolls to assess self-sexualization in 60 girls ages six to nine recruited largely from public schools. Consider a recent study on body image among elementary school-aged girls. Maybe, but then it's the change that's so disturbing. Toymakers say they are reflecting the changing taste of their demographic. Our girls (and our boys) are now bombarded from the get-go with images of women whose bodies range from unattainable to implausible (Disney Princesses, anyone?). When our kids play with toys that we played with, we assume that they are the same as they were when we were younger. Even Care Bears and My Little Pony have been put on a diet. And, check out Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, Trolls (now called 'Trollz').

(And I'm not the only one who finds this evolution alarming.) The Disney Princesses have grown gradually more skinny and coy over time. Candy Land isn't the only classic that has, without our notice, gotten a hot makeover.

How many spaces on a candy land board