Scarlett is currently obsessed with the Fisher-Price “Loving Family.” If Fisher-Price wants to be taken seriously it should change it to "Family that Tolerates One Another Because They Have No Choice." I guess it wouldn't fit on the box.
Scarlett has collected all the people; we've got grandma, mom, dad, sister, brother, baby, even the collie she named "Penny." The only piece missing is grandpa, which Fisher-Price doesn't seem to make. I explained to Scarlett that he ran off with a 20-something, leaving grandma no option but to live in the loving family's basement.
It's thrilling watching her learn to play, changing her voice, speaking in tongues, believing these dolls are actually chatting, dancing and using the "potty." I'm also terrified watching the abuse Scarlett heaps upon the loving mother. Her little doll body is always twisted in some grotesque position, head backwards, lying beneath the family van. Oh, the things Scarlett would do if she had a chance to play God. I have a feeling it would resemble this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7egF7IyCAM&feature=related
In hopes of buying my daughter's love (and avoiding a push down the stairs), I'm searching for the "Loving Family" dollhouse. I found it on KSL but that woman wants $160 for it when it's priced for $75 on the Fisher-Price website. The KSL house comes with all the furniture and includes her children's boogers, fecal bacteria and haunted memories of a dysfunctional "Loving Family." Sue grew up to be a prostitute and Buddy married the nanny. I decided to buy new.
That's when I came across this review on Amazon.
The dollhouse is really cute, and I really like that it has so many rooms. It is very easy to assemble with no screwdrivers required. With the price paid for the house, I would have thought there would be more furniture. I spent a fortune on buying furniture separately.
The description did not indicate that the dolls were black, white, asian or other. I only had the picture on the screen to go by. Imagine my surprise when we opened the package on Christmas morning to find that the dolls are black. Instead of returning it and prolonging the wait, I will simply buy the white dolls and replace the black ones. It would have been nice to know this up front, and I could have decided whether or not it was really worth the price to have to go out and buy a new family of dolls.
It blew my mind that this mother is so bothered by her white child playing house with a black family, she would go out and buy all new dolls. To me, she passed up on a great learning opportunity. Then I realized I never had a doll that was a different race from my own and neither does Scarlett.
A debate followed this mother's review. Some agreed, saying it wasn't bigotry -- that children relate better to a doll that looks like them. Again I ask, what lesson does that teach our children? You can only relate to those who look like you?
Scarlett now has a black doll to teach her not only diversity, but that no matter the race, location or culture, people can have a loving family or miserable family which is often the case.
