What you hear is the sound of my wallet emptying.... 



When we first arrived in Wisconsin, I worked for Pleasant Company (now American Girl and owned by Mattel.) It's a wonderful company, but something about the process of developing books with product placement in them didn't sit well with me. 'Hey, let's make Kirsten go sledding in this chapter so we can sell a miniature sled for the doll!"

OK, so it wasn't quite that transparent...but it existed. And the whole thing seemed like such a cult. Those dolls were like a drug - people kept buying and buying and buying. Not just a doll - but a doll and a complete wardrobe and set of books and accessories and more.

I was quite certain that no child of mine would ever fall into this trap of blatant consumerism. And I managed to keep the catalogs away. We never took D. to visit my old employer (the lobby is full of dolls and such - a 6 year old girl's dream.) She blissfully existed for 5 1/2 years without knowing about the $90 dolls that every young girl seems to need.

But when we were in Chicago, I couldn't resist. How could we be that close to American Girl Place and not go in? So we did. And she fell in love. Instantly.

I let her buy one book. No dolls, no toys. Just one book. And she picked a book about Kaya (Nex Pierce girl circa late 1700s.) We are almost done with the book and she is so excited to get the next one.

We are up to book 5 in Little House on the Prairie. But Laura and Mary are turning into teenagers and my 5 year old daughter is losing interest. Those American Girl characters - they stay between the ages of 8-12 forever. And while it is not great literature, I'm starting to understand the value of introducing books as part of the process of imaginary play with dolls.

There is a catalogue request card in the book. I'm toying with the idea of sending it in.

So far, for me, parenthood has been one long string of taking back every single pre-child sentence that started with the phrase, "I'm never going to....blah, blah blah....with my child."

ka-ching. $90 doll...here we come.... 

Posted: Wed - May 11, 2005 at 09:01 PM          

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