e-mail
I am the mother of a son. And my son has dolls. He likes his “babies” and has decided that when he grows up, he is going to be a Daddy. He will have five babies and will put them to sleep in cribs. He will take them to the grocery store in car seats. So yes, I do think boys can and should play with dolls.
I collected dolls and stuffed animals as a child, and my son’s room is full of them. In addition to the 5 white Cabbage Patch Kids, for Jack’s first Adoption Day, we added a black Cabbage Patch Newborn. The following Christmas we got “the twins” – two brown dolls from the same company. One is a regular doll and one wears clothes that you can use to practice zipping, buttoning, and so on. I look forward to adding more brown and tan dolls in the future.
Where do I find these dolls? I was lucky enough to find the Cabbage Patch Kid at Target. But for other dolls, one’s best bet is the Internet.
Adoption.com now carries a selection of multicultural dolls.
Dolls Like Me is probably the best known online store. I’m on their mailing list. I wish we had more disposable income so I could indulge myself – I mean Jack – in their vast array of multicultural dolls. Dolls Like Me often has specials for those on their mailing list. I bought an anatomically correct Latino boy doll there for a friend’s daughter (who is white and Jewish).
Sleepy Soft is the store “the twins” came from. I like that Sleepy Soft is a family-run company. Their shipping rates also tend to be better.
When both stores carry the same item, that item is usually similarly priced at each store. For example, the Nighty-Night Doll is $24.95 at Dolls Like Me and $24.97 at Sleepy Soft. Both stores offer a wide variety of doll types, from $10 rag dolls to $250 collectibles.
Sleepy Soft offers several “special needs dolls”. As much as we might think it’s impossible to find brown dolls, think about finding dolls in wheelchairs or with Down’s Syndrome. I’d never seen such a thing until I found Sleepy Soft. Sleepy Soft also offers more boy dolls than Dolls Like Me does.
By the way, I don’t recommend the Fanny’s Playhouse “Learn to Dress” dolls, which are available at both stores. The clothes don’t actually come off, so it’s not as fun to play with, nor as real. Of course, you don’t lose the pieces that way.
If you have a boy, and you haven’t gotten him a doll yet, go ahead! They have to learn to be daddies somehow right? You can also supply your friends’ kids with a diverse menagerie of stuffed companions. It’s not just brown kids who need brown dolls.
Photo Credit: Robyn C. 2009. All rights reserved.
Thank you Robyn for your kind words about our http://www.SleepySoft.com site! We would like to clarify one thing though, it is at our sister site http://www.PattycakeDoll.com that we carry the special needs and down syndrome dolls. And if you will permit an additional comment, we would like to mention that although as you pointed out, our selling prices are comparable to other multi-racial doll sites, we donate 10% of our profits to childrens charities. Regards, Peter and Addie Laudin
Thank you for sharing! I didn’t know that, though it’s probably somewhere easy to find on your site. I’ve been very happy with all of the dolls I’ve ordered from you all. (I didn’t mention the ballerina doll for another friend’s daughter, which you had at a much better price than DLM.) Thanks!
How neat. I am a huge fan of dolls of all kinds and truly believe that allowing and encouraging boys to play with dolls is a way to build compassion in their little hearts. We just can’t be surprised when baby becomes Godzilla.