Black American Girl Doll

My sweet mother-in-love has successfully passed her love for dolls onto my daughters. And specifically with American Girl Dolls.

I've made it crystal clear to my daughters that I will NEVER be purchasing an AGD for them (have you seen the price tags?) But that it could be their special thing with their Nana. (That all when out the window when I happened to find an AGD in perfect condition sitting on a Goodwill shelf with a $5 pricetag, though.)

They go on special dates with their Nana to the AGD store and are already up to 4 dolls each. I know, its completely excessive but its their thing, so we will just go with it for now.

Now, its interesting to me when it comes time for them to pick their new dolls. They both have such a beautiful array of different skin colored dolls. I love seeing that they want to add a new ethnicity to their clan of dolls but its just a natural overflow of their desires. They don't have to be intentional about "I want a "black" doll or I want a "white" doll." They pick their dolls according to the things they learn about them. The dolls hobbies, lifestyle and clothing style. It's almost as if they choose their doll according to who the dolls are and not as much based on their skin tone.

I think we could all learn a lesson from that. I mean, they are dolls, I get that. But really.... I think there is something there.

".... they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

-MLK

So, if little girls can do that with dolls, maybe we can do that with people. For real.

It's just not a thing ffor them. They are fully aware of the different looks each of the dolls has, but it doesn't affect how much they like the dolls better than the others. They just love them all. In spite of their differences and because of their differences.

They aren't concerned about making sure they have a doll that looks a certain way. They want a depiction of what actual life is. And that means a community of all different colored people (i.e. dolls.) And although they are fully aware and embrace and love that about their dolls, it doesn't define them or how much they like each one.

I'm really excited to dig deeper into this whole doll craze and expand into some deeper issues next week so stay tuned!