I just read my "marketing bio." If you're reading this Empowering Girls website then I'm guessing this is also your "marketing bio." We're the new purchasing demographic called "Thinking Parents" and we're raising the marketing target called "Smarty Kids."

Our vulnerable spot where we'll "spend heavily?" To keep our kids "safe and happy" and there are 32 million of us.

Straight from a press release:

Smarty Kids: there is a growing population of kids today that we call Smarty Kids:

* these kids are tech-savvy and appreciate substance to their media encounters.

* Smarty Kids benefit from their parents’ dual income and digital awareness.

* they enjoy learning from experience and are physically and socially active.

Thinking Parents: those moms and dads entering the crucial elementary to tween years when peers begin competing for influence.

• 32 Million moms are online

• Parental Supervision on the computer is high

• They spend heavily on their tween to keep them safe and happy

What’s on the mind of a Smarty Kid:

• Having the coolest gadgets and games

• The pressure of fitting in with their peers

• Mild environmental and ethical issues

• Being entertained and engaged

Smarty Kids on technology and media:

• Have available access to technology and media platforms, with some having personal technology in their bedrooms.

• Access a computer both at home and at school and spend more time online than any other childhood group.

• Interact with more forms of media than their peers, from paper and ink to television to online to mobile.

Our average income is between $56 and $76, we're likely college graduates, live in cul-de-sacs and we're upward bound. We're likely between 35 - 44.

I often hear this from frustrated parents: "It won't matter if I write the company or if I refuse to buy the product. I'm just one parent."

Except that you're not. You're 1 of 32 million Thinking Parents with 2.5 Smarty Kids, who is taking the time to let the company know what products you want to spend your money on.

Want that toy kitchen in a neutral green (as opposed to the pink) so your toddler boy can learn to be a good husband and father and oh, I don't know - feed himself without growing up thinking an ability to cook to feed one's own self makes one gay? Write the company and tell them, "I'm a Thinking Parent and I would buy this for my two male Smarty Kids if it were in green or yellow."

This press release signals a changing tide in the children's toy and media market. This Christmas, with it's more stressful economy, will also work in the Thinking Parents' favor. Rather than wantonly spending money on every whim our children have, we'll be more choosy about the message, about the quality, about the meaning and the profit margin. The toy & media companies are poised to work harder.

They know we're out here making conscious decisions and they are willing to meet our values to get our money.

What questions will you be asking of the companies you spend your Christmas budget with?

Photo Source: This Smarty Kid is named Sarah and she lives and breathes soccer. Her mom Ellen Gerstein is a Thinking Parent over at "Confessions of an It Girl.