In a segment that will air on Friday, Katie Holmes was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, explaining how little Suri got her mitts on a box of phallic gummies. Well, kind of explaining. It's difficult to resolve the story behind penis shaped candies when you’re too prissy to actually say 'penis'.
Instead, Katie told Ellen [via MailOnline] that Suri had picked up a box of “boy part gummies.” When she saw the candies in Suri’s hand, she assumed they were Swedish Fish (the American version of Swedish Berries), but boy was she wrong. She spelled it out for Ellen: “P-e-n-i-s gummies. I said, ‘Oh wow those aren’t Swedish Fish.’”
“They are called p-e-n-i-s gummies and they look like it. She was holding the box and I was like ‘Okay, wow we don’t need that right now.’”
“Because I thought if I said ‘Put that back!’ and then she’s going to say, ‘What is this?’ And I really didn’t want to have that conversation. I was like, ‘Why are [they] selling these here? This is for kids’. And then it was on the cover of a magazine that I’m giving her those gummies.”
Usually I find the Cruise-Holmes family a bit ridiculous, but this incident has me sympathizing with Katie Holmes. All children do and say random things, but only a few have the paparazzi documenting their every spat and spazz. It's nice that Katie is cool enough to laugh this one off.
But as much as I sympathize with her, I don’t think her explanation has helped me understand Scientology’s childrearing methods any better. I thought Scientologists were all about treating children as little adults, fully capable of making their own decisions. I can understand that a non-Scientologist parent might want to conduct child-appropriate anatomy lessons without the use of candy aids, but why can’t Katie Holmes say ‘penis’? Yes, there are a lot of fun bad words that mean the same thing, but ‘penis’ is totally PG.
If you believe the tabloids, Suri Cruise chooses her own outfits, sets her own hours and eats whatever she wants, so why is her mom so hesitant to teach her about “boy parts”? I knew the correct anatomical terms when I was 4, and frankly, that knowledge probably would’ve prevented me from choosing a box of penis candies, because, well, ewww. Right? It’s hard to tell if this is Scientology at work, or if Katie Holmes is simply too prissy to use a perfectly clinical word most kids already know. Or maybe she’s holding off on the Anatomy 101 lesson until someone invents candies that jive better with her religious beliefs, like Meat Body Gummies or Thetan Pops. 
leave katie alone, those candies should never have been in that store in the first place..
Posted by: fran | 03/31/2011 at 01:00 PM
Suri shouldn't have been in the store in the first place!
Posted by: currie | 03/31/2011 at 06:20 PM
Katie Holmes can't say the word penis because of the way she was brought up. It has nothing to do with Scientology (which I do not like/understand). I remember an interview with her of when she was on Dawson's Creek. Her cast mates were making her uncomfortable, kept saying penis, etc... she didn't like it. She said she was brought up in a very catholic environment and went to school with nuns. I guess from one controlling lifestyle to another.
Posted by: Lunamel | 03/31/2011 at 10:04 PM
currie ..it was a regular store , and just on the shelf that the child could reach.
Posted by: fran | 04/01/2011 at 12:03 AM
It's ridiculous - letting a 4 year old make their own decisions?? That's like the tennis player who got to name her self at age 4 or whatever and called herself Peek a boo street or something stupid like that. If you can't stand up to a 4 year old, what will it be like when she is a teenager and thinks the world revolves around her? She will have a lot of wake-up calls, about real life. Crazy...
Posted by: Brenda | 04/01/2011 at 10:19 AM
Because taking the gummies out the kid's hand and saying "you cannot have those" wouldbe too much. This crap about being ur kids friend and lettingthem make their own decisions is BS how has that not become evident?! look at kids today. I'm sure my 4 yr or 9 yr old would love to make their own decisions but as the PARENT I have a responsibilty to guide them to appropriate an/or right choices.
Posted by: me | 04/01/2011 at 06:19 PM
Brenda...
Picabo Street was an Alpine skier and I can assure you, she did not name herself
Posted by: Karen | 04/01/2011 at 06:20 PM
I can agree with Katie, I sure wouldn't have wanted to have THAT conversation in a public place surrounded by all those paparazzi. It is unfortunate the media is making such a big deal about this one picture and their comments. It may be part and parcel of being famous, but that sure doesn't make it any easier to be a parent, and it doesn't matter what faith you practice Catholic/ Scientologist/ Buddhist/ etc. And as for letting a 4 year old make their own decisions? Again, you've got media twisting everything that is said and taking it out of context and then we read it in magazine like In Touch or US weekly and get the story spun the way they want it. I have a 3 year old, and she decides what she wants to wear, or what she wants to eat, or what shirt she wants to buy, after I give her a few choices. Does that make me an irresponsible parent? I don't think so. That's teaching her about choice and consequences. Responsible parenting in my book.
Posted by: Tracy | 04/04/2011 at 07:12 AM
Exactly Tracy you give a few choices. Nothing wrong with that. Do you have your 4 year out at midnight picking up candy???
Posted by: fool | 04/04/2011 at 01:23 PM
These PEOPLE ARE A BUNCH OF FLAKES. Tom HAS PROVED THAT. Imagine letting a 4 year old picking sleep times and what to eat. They are super flakes.
Posted by: betty | 04/04/2011 at 01:29 PM
just wondering.? , What she will want the pleasure of sucking on by the time Suri is 14 years old.
Posted by: jimmy | 04/10/2011 at 11:39 AM
That kid is going to be messed up. The whole family lives in a weird bubble.
Posted by: anon | 04/18/2011 at 08:38 PM