[Mommy K]

How important do you think choosing baby dolls appearance for your daughters is? Our dd keeps getting baby dolls that are blonde, as gifts from others, especially my mom--
Should I start to request from my mom to try to vary the dolls appearance to resemble our dd more? Or is this teaching our dd that the baby has to look like the mommy?
Thanks!

[becky]

If I felt it was important for my daughter to have dolls of different skin/hair tones I would make sure I bought a few myself, so that she had a variety to choose from.

I always did that for my daughter, but she always wanted to play with the blonde ones. She loves blonde hair (I don't have it, but her older sister does). She asks me several times a year if she can get her hair 'highlighted'.

I have wondered about this and hoped it wasn't related to self-esteem issues with my daughter, but the fact is I just think she likes blonde hair...which is fine

[sfalone]

Dulce has many dolls and they are all different. She has AA dolls, CC dolls, Hispanic dolls, even boy baby dolls. She doesn't seem to have a "favorite' as of lately she has been dragging the boy doll around and last month it was one of her AA dolls.

[Slatond10]

DD has alot of different dolls ( some that look like her, AA, blondes, etc)... but oddly her favorite doll is one she picked from Good Will that is bald w/ cloth body that has a mold stain on the body and tattoo's N on the arms and feet. I promise I cleaned her VERY WELL!!!!

She has had it for 3+ years and still it is her favorite one!? Go Figure! She is very well loved!

[SKL]

I have chosen to provide a rainbow of dolls, puppets, etc., and let the girls choose which ones they want to play with. Most of them are tan or darker, consistent with most of the world population. The girls do get mostly caucasion dolls from their relatives - after all, there aren't many non-Dora dolls in stores that look remotely like my daughters. So I buy mostly brown dolls to balance them out.

My younger daughter's most loved, cherished possession is a brown-skinned cloth doll that I bought from DollsLikeMe.com. I am really glad I bought that doll! Other than that, the girls play with whatever doll suits their project, without regard to skin color. As they get older (they are 2.5), they may notice the skin differences more.

I do think it's important to have some dolls around with darker skin. I think it's good to be able to pick up one of the brown dolls and talk about how pretty or cute it is (I just love the faces on some of the DollsLikeMe dolls!) As they grow, they will be bombarded with images of blonde beauty. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as the girls are also exposed to the idea of dark-skinned beauty.

I wouldn't ask my family to avoid blonde dolls, but I do express that I think it's important for them to also have brown dolls.

[TerriBB]

Flora has "Baby" who is the Hispanic Bitty Baby, she got her for her second Christmas, her first Christmas home. She's always slept with her and is always so gentle with her.

Here's a question about their baby dolls. When I was little, I always got a new doll for Christmas. I always felt bad for the older dolls, were they being displaced by the new one?

She has a few other dolls and I refer to them as "Dollie"...so that "Baby" remains her numer one. So, the grandparents have boughts clothes, beds, high chairs, buggys, strollers...etc for "Baby"...but I won't let them buy a doll that could possibly replace her.

I know it sounds a bit goofy, but I never want Flora to think that we could get on a plane (part of her lifestory) and get another little girl to replace her...like we would if she got another "Baby" as a gift.

When she's a little bit older, we'll head to Chicago and do the whole American Girl thing with the books and the doll who looks like her.

[JustBarbara]

Oh I think I'd buy some different ones yourself - especially if you think your mother might feel offended.

[Mommy K]

Whats weird is the dolls are blonde--I'm blonde. I am starting to think this is a bit strange. But i will go and buy some rainbow colored dolls too.

[saj]

I have children 10 months apart. One boy and one girl. One is AA the other is CC. I always had many differen baby dolls to choose from. The CC boy always chose a brown doll. The AA girl always chose the white doll. I found this very interesting. All I could think of is that my AA child saw a white baby as she looked at my CC son and he saw a brown baby as he looked at her. I'm happy to say that now that they are older my CC son no longer plays with dolls and my AA daughter prefers one that resembles her.

[Pipercub]

I didn't think my Guat tot would care whether her doll looked like her or not, but she pointed to the "Anna" doll in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and wanted one because "she look like me, mama." I live in Houston and assumed with our very large hispanic/latino population that our Pottery Barn Kids would carry it. I showed up at the store and was shocked to discover they were only carrying the caucasian "Sophie" and one other cuacasian doll. I asked the lady that worked there if they had just sold out of the Anna doll and she said no, they didn't carry the "colored" dolls. After I picked my jaw up off the ground and overlooked her comment, I asked from a business standpoint how in the world that made sense, seeing as we have one of the largest hispanic/latino populations. If not here, where exactly did she think it would make fiscal sense for Pottery Barn Kids stores to carry thes dolls? She said she'd never really thought about it and that each store ordered whatever they thought they could sell. She said she could see my point and ordered it for the store. (I could have just ordered it to be shipped to my house and I wasn't really trying to rock the boat, but it just surprised me.) She did in fact start stocking the Anna dolls there at the store and I noticed other shoppers buying them last time I was there. Anyway, it is a super sweet soft doll with beautiful cinnamon skin. My daughter really LOVES hers alot. If I try to give her a different doll, she gives it to her (blond haired) sister and says it belongs with her. So I guess it's going to be cinnamon skinned dolls for her. I'm okay with that. My older daughter on the other hand likes all kinds of dolls. But more than dolls...she LOVES stuffed animals cats. She doesn't seem to discriminate what kind of cat - they are all perfect in her mind. LOL

[SKL]

Originally Posted by Pipercub

I asked the lady that worked there if they had just sold out of the Anna doll and she said no, they didn't carry the "colored" dolls. I asked from a business standpoint how in the world that made sense, seeing as we have one of the largest hispanic/latino populations.

I have many Indian friends who have always chosen fair, caucasion dolls over brown dolls. I asked one friend about this and it had never occurred to her that a brown-skinned child might like a brown-skinned doll - after all, everyone knows fair is beautiful! So I am not sure that the demographics of a population control the marketing as much as we might think. Though you certainly have a good point!

[JillnChris]

IMHO I think it is very important for your daughter to have dolls that resemble her. I don't think it is bad for her to have blonde dolls as well. But I always make sure I buy Eva dolls that resemble her dark skin, hair, and eyes. I think it is nice to have a good mixture though because I think it will teach her to be accepting of all people.

[netmon]

My daughter was not into dolls at all although she had several. The first being a hispanic "my first baby." It was with her in Guatemala and I bought a second for pickup. She never showed much interest in it or other dolls.

Then at 3 years old she became aware of different skin color. She announced to me one day that she did not have any brown skinned babies. So I brought the baby doll out again and we went out to find one the next day. Of course she gravitated towards the blond babies. She is more into dolls now and has an assortment. She does not seem to care what color they are and plays equally with all of them.