Overheard at Home
My daughters were deciding who got to play with which one of two dolls that they got for Christmas. The two dolls are identical except for their complexion.
Oldest daughter: No, I want the light-skinned one. I think she’s prettier.
I swear that I’m not teaching her to be racist. I blame the TV.
![[Earth Flag]](../../../../wp-content/images/earth-flag.png){kind=small}
![[Gadsden Flag]](../../../../wp-content/images/gadsden.png){kind=small}
![[Old Glory]](../../../../wp-content/images/old-glory.png){kind=small}
Lacey said,
December 26, 2007 @ 6:23 pm
I just want to say our oldest is 4 and our youngest is 2.
Nice niece said,
December 27, 2007 @ 10:24 am
Reminds me of the year Dara and I both got Barbies for Christmas. One was light-skinned, and one was this gorgeous Hawaiian beauty with long black hair. Dara never liked her….luckily I did, so there weren’t any fights.
PS- How do you make that emoticon with the bugged out eyes? It’s so funny!
December 27, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
Lacey and I were talking about it, and it’s regrettable that the issue is so charged that a child can’t express a simple preference without adults reading into it. If she liked the doll with dark skin, I probably would have felt proud for raising such an open-minded child. That’s a sign of race-consciousness that I wish didn’t exist. I’m still hoping for a race agnostic world where expressing a preference for fair skinned dolls was as innocent and harmless as saying you like vanilla ice cream.
Regarding the shocked emoticon, to help you and others more fully express your emotional states, I added a little table of valid emoticons below the comment form.
Anna said,
December 28, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
This story reminded me of my childhood where I only received the blonde haired (sometimes red haired), blue eyed dolls because I am blonde haired, blue eyed. I always wished that I could have other dolls.