The inevitable has finally happened.
Madeleine has learned that American Girl dolls exist. I knew it would happen at some point; the ads are prevalent on the webpages I frequent and she is frequently over my shoulder. That and a few friends have them. (No, nobody has more than one, but more than one friend.)
"Mom..." *blink* *blink* "...is that... a Kit Kittredge doll?"
Nuts.
Now we need to answer the question: Under what circumstances, if any, does a child get a $90 doll? Yes, I've heard about the knockoffs, but it's not the same. The hair is cheap, according to reviews.
A defense I've heard kind of makes sense if space is a consideration. If folks are on a budget, they will only get one or two items instead of a bunch of stuff, which means less to store. Okay, maybe that's a rationalization, but it sounds good, right? Another "good point" is it would be easy for the next few years to provide a gift list.
That doesn't change the fact that this is a $90 toy. We--my brother, sister, and I--were all in double-digits before we got such a thing; it was an Atari 2600 that we all could use.
And what do we do about Rachel? Does she wait until she's 7? What if she doesn't want one then? What if she wants one now?
Ah, the joys of parenthood. I really want to dump this on Santa, you know?
Labels: kids, priorities
5 Comments:
My sisters and I (four of us) all earned our AG dolls - way back when there were only 3 or 4 options - by doing extra chores, saving birthday money, etc. It made it that much sweeter when we finally got them, and they were well-loved.
Have you considered eBay?
Milehimama--Haven't checked eBay. Hmm...
Gianna--We may just do that; she earned the Beast doll she wanted years back. That was $15, though. So I guess I'm asking for suggestions for chores for a 7-year-old?
You also might tell her it's a ninety-dollar doll. I have to say that, once I learned the dollar value of stuff I liked in the catalog, I pretty much stopped expecting to get expensive toys.
Of course, I never thought dolls had much play value. What can you do with dolls? You put clothes on 'em, you take 'em off again. You move them here, you move them there. If you're looking for a roleplaying doll, clothespins work as well or better.
Of course, in my family we really aren't very much into dramatic imagination play. My cousins were, and it was very exhausting. When I wanted dramatic imagination, I read a story or I wrote one.
Madeline has the bitty twins. She got them two years ago. She's just now REALLY starting to play with them. She can't get the bigger on til she's 7. She's not mature enough to take care of the hair. And I'm not doing it. :) She can wait til her birthday in Feb.
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