Gabby's Hair and Olympic Role Models

I am so frustrated with the criticism of Gabby Douglas' hair, frustrated enough that I was going to write about it. You know, in my usual way: long and ranty.

But, I decided to take a different approach.

An NPR article has this to say about the "controversy":

What she is is a role model. Douglas has accomplished a feat that is unattainable for most of the population. When viewers are distracted by a trivial matter that doesn't affect a performance, we are teaching our young people that style is more important than substance. Little girls are watching Douglas flipping her way across the floor, noticing that she looks a lot like them, and dreaming of one day following in her footsteps.

I know that she's a role model to my own little girl. As we were watching the gymnastics team perform, my daughter felt inspired to try out a few moves of her own.

Hopefully she can keep learning that her spirit, her personality, and her drive are more important than her hair (which is also awesome).