When my daughter was about two, her father took her shopping for toys. He let her stroll the aisles of Toys R Us and pick out anything in our price range (which was about $20--which worked out fine; the $150 things are set well above eye-level for toddlers).
She picked out an African-American Barbie doll with a bright orange dress. (We still have it; daughter is now 18 has no memory whatsoever of this; she'd moved on from Barbie by the time she was six.) I bring this up when anyone tries to tell me that "kids want dolls that look like them, and if the majority of kids are white..."
I can confirm that a blonde-haired blue-eyed kid with Nordic-ancestry parents will happily play with a dark-skinned doll, if given free choice. Racism is not created by infants.
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Date: 2014-02-14 07:14 am (UTC)She picked out an African-American Barbie doll with a bright orange dress. (We still have it; daughter is now 18 has no memory whatsoever of this; she'd moved on from Barbie by the time she was six.) I bring this up when anyone tries to tell me that "kids want dolls that look like them, and if the majority of kids are white..."
I can confirm that a blonde-haired blue-eyed kid with Nordic-ancestry parents will happily play with a dark-skinned doll, if given free choice. Racism is not created by infants.