Category: Kids

A Few of My Favorite Dolls

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

I believe a doll is a very special thing.  “Dollar dolls” or dolls from generic corporate America don’t necessarily interest me.  Neither do ridiculously expensive dolls, be they American Girls or Waldorf treasures.  I’m kind of in between these two extremes, I guess.  My goal is always to find a doll I love from a place I love too.

My kids have way too many dolls.  Life has exploded with them, and while I used to be able to exert some power over what stayed and what was given a new home, my daughter is older now and is head-over-heels for any stuffed animal or doll that comes our way.  I thought about trying to limit our dolls and animals at one point, but watching our girl love and care for each one is really heart-warming.  There are other areas I can put my foot down.

I caved and found a huge toy chest for all the dolls, although they are usually rotating through various areas of our home.  Our daughter is not particular on the doll issue at all; she treats each one as if it was the most special doll in the world.  I love that.  But I’ve found that I’ve acquired a list of my favorites that we either own or I wish we did…

Bonnika doll She really is a doll. I just might love Bonnika more than our daughter does, and I love the PattyCake Doll company.

Fay and Fox doll from Etsy This Etsy store is based out of Greece, making the shipping a little steep. But, oh, how I am loving looking at the precious items in this store!

A Button and a Stitch dolls from Etsy Don’t own any of these…yet.  I am in love with all of them. How would I choose?

Under the Nile Adam doll Santa brought this as the gift to our son last year. I love this sweet little boy doll.

Lizzie fairy doll by JellyCat Grandma bought this for our girl at one of our favorite local gift shops. Lizzie is one of my favorite dolls we have. With her crazy blonde hair and her fairy ballet outfit, she reminds me a lot of another girl I know…

Peter from Snowy Day doll You can find Peter a lot of places, but I’m always willing to suck it up and pay the extra for an independent, awesome company. I love Snowy Day and fell in love with this doll as soon as I saw him.

And, while I usually prefer cloth dolls, the Corolle baby appeared one Christmas from Santa (who had found her at an independent toy shop), and I LOVE holding this doll.  It’s like holding a tiny baby.

Don’t Force Me to Hug

Posted on by keepinthesunlightblog@gmail.com

I saw this on A Mighty Girl.  I know some agree and some don’t, but it’s definitely something to think about.  Interesting how all the things we want when our kids are little, “Just do as I say,” “Eat what I tell you to eat,” “Sleep in, for goodness sake!” “Stop bothering me,” etc. are all the things we try desperately to change in them when they’re teenagers–“Stand up for yourself!” “Make your own wise choices,” “Get out of bed!” “Spend more time with me…please.”   Or, in the case of this one, “Just hug this person, even if you don’t want to…” vs. “Respect your body.”

I, for one, am in very strong agreement with the message here, although I couldn’t claim for certain that I’ve never tried to encourage a hug to a relative.  I’ve never liked the idea of forcing kids to be affectionate or share.  Heck, most adults I know wouldn’t want to be forced to share their favorite “toys” with others.  I certainly wouldn’t want to be forced to “play” or hang out with someone I didn’t like, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be forced to be affectionate to someone.  (Don’t even get me started on the crying, screaming, forced Santa’s lap pictures.)

As a parent of a little girl, I’m especially sensitive to a situation like this.  She needs to be respecting her comfort zone, not catering to another person’s wishes.  Fortunately, we haven’t been faced with much of this, but I’ve heard about this situation again and again from other parents.  Almost 100% of the time, it is a grown male (a grandpa, an uncle, a close family friend) who is being pouty and sensitive about a little girl not hugging him or kissing him or even giving him High 5s.  (Don’t know why little boys are excused from this…)  Some people think that relatives and close friends are exempt from a young kids’ discomfort with a situation like this.  I, however, believe my kid needs to know that her comfort is respected above all, especially above some grown man’s hurt feelings about not getting the physical contact he wants.  In my opinion, this cannot be taught too soon.   Anyway, I don’t see how forcing someone to show an affection they don’t feel is a good thing anyway.  Let adults be the adults in the situation.  To me, this lesson is not one to back down on.  …  All easier said than navigated in real life, of course, but I think this one is too important to ignore.