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One More Word about American Girl Dolls

Can American Girl Dolls and Their Books Be a Good Role Model?

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One More Word about American Girl Dolls

Friday, January 11th, 2008

In previous blog entries, I’ve been discussing less expensive alternatives to American Girl Dolls. Ed Gawlinski wrote in to tell us about some of the pluses of buying an actual American Girl Doll. One point he made was that the characters in the books are good role models for girls.

Since then, I came across a blog article about how a six year old girl brought her less expensive doll to the American Girl Store in New York City. At the store, they style the hair of American Girl Dolls. But they refused to style the little girl’s doll’s hair because it wasn’t an authentic American Girl Doll, even though the girl was in tears.

I called the store to see what their policy is and they confirmed that they don’t style other dolls’ hair. So be warned if you go to the store. It holds true even if you bring your child there for a birthday party and her friends all bring their dolls – any dolls that aren’t American Girl Dolls can’t be styled.

My first reaction to hearing this was to be appalled. But, after considering it for a while, I can understand why they would have a policy like this. It took me about an hour to brush out the hair of my daughter’s non-American Girl Doll and I had to work hard to make it look good.

Nonetheless, there must be a better way to handle it. What do we want to teach our kids? That they live in a world of exclusivity – that only the well off can take part in special activities. They’re excluded – or their friend is excluded – because she doesn’t have that doll?

Instead, shouldn’t they try to craft their polices to help teach children compassion for others?

The American Girl Dolls institution should try to be a good role model – just like the characters in the American Girl Dolls books!

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Posted in American Girl Books, American Girl Dolls, Books, Countries & Cultures, Dolls, Me Dolls, Parenting, Toys, USA | 10 Comments »

Can American Girl Dolls and Their Books Be a Good Role Model?

Thursday, January 10th, 2008

In an earlier blog post, I talked about a less expensive alternative to American Girl Dolls. My daughter and I call them “Me” Dolls. I feel that these dolls are good for kids since they can play with them without parents worrying about the dolls getting messy.

Today Ed Gawlinski wrote to me about what he feels are the benefits of the American Girl Dolls…

The American Girl dolls, at least before they were bought out by Mattel, were intended to be (or at least approach) “museum quality” in accuracy and workmanship. The dolls, clothes and accessories are intended to match one of the books associated with that doll. They are admittedly expensive. However, the books can be bought separately and they are (in my opinion) excellent books that I had enjoyed reading to my two daughters and listening to them reading the stories aloud to us. These were great opportunities to talk about American History and society.

I still get catalogues in the mail from them. In addition to buying clothes for the dolls you can buy matching clothes for the girls. That can be very expensive. However, it can also bring alive a period in American history for your child which is a very valuable learning experience. The cost of the doll, etc. can be useful in teaching your daughter how to take care of valuable property. Naturally, they should also have dolls and toys that they can treat more roughly, take outside and get dirty, etc.

I had been the director of a Saint Lucia performance for over twenty years. In the American Girls’ book, “Kirsten’s Surprise”, Kirsten explains the Swedish Saint Lucia custom to her cousins, and they organize a Luciatag celebration. Over the years, many of the girls in my performance had a Kirsten doll, and we used these dolls in their Saint Lucia outfit or Swedish outfits to decorate our performance area. Occasionally, a girl would wear her Kirsten outfit as her costume.

Hopefully, in four to six years, your daughter will start to enjoy reading the American Girls books and then will appreciate having one of the dolls to help bring the stories alive. I am happy to see that some entrepreneurs have taken the idea behind the American Girls dolls and come up with a less expensive alternative. I did know a number of my daughters’ friends who destroyed theirs and that was unfortunate.

I am hoping that in ten to twelve years when my granddaughter is old enough to enjoy them, that American Girls dolls (etc.) will still be available in the stores. However, I do know that both of my daughters have kept their dolls and the books in excellent condition. They each had two dolls and over the years, they acquired (for Christmas and birthdays) a collection of outfits and accessories. They enjoyed getting outfits for their dolls even while they were in high school.

The girls portrayed in the books are strong role models for a little girl. I was very glad to be able to include these books in their library. One of the dolls, Molly, had a father who was serving in Europe during World War II. One of Molly’s outfits included a flight jacket. The daughter who had this doll is now a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, having graduated from the Air Force Academy last May.

I don’t want to be a commercial for Mattel, but I am very glad to have been able to provide my daughters with these dolls and even more so, with the books.

-Ed Gawlinksi

Note: In the second photo above, the girls are in Swedish Costumes that their mothers made based on the one of the outfits worn by the Kirsten American Girl doll.

Many thanks to Ed Gawlinski for sharing his family’s experiences with the American Girl Dolls with us! -Lisa

UPDATE: If you’d like to read another point of view, you can read a later post called One More Word about American Girl Dolls!

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Posted in American Girl Books, American Girl Dolls, Books, Countries & Cultures, Dolls, Gift Ideas, Holidays Around the World, Me Dolls, Parenting, Recommendations, St. Lucia's Day, Sweden, Toys, USA | 4 Comments »

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