With a nod and (perhaps) an apology to fellow blogger grannyhelen, I thought of her theme immediately when we received our "my twinn" (the just-like-me doll) catalogue. It's one of those unexpected, " how in the @#%! did I get on this mailing list" gems. Parents of a spirited four and a half year old daughter, my wife Paddy and I were filled with revulsion when we saw this thing.
I can assure you our daughter will never see it.
My negative reactions are really all over the place and not necessarily coherent.
Having a doll that looks like me seems weird in itself, though it's a hard argument to prove. There's a conformity aspect to the whole idea I find deeply disturbing. A pet will at least, have some independent actions. Dolls never do, of course - but even they have some semblence of an independent identity. This entity falls short of either of those.
If you can stand to even turn the cover page of this thing, here's how it works. You buy outfits for your doll and your daughter and it gets well over a hundred dollars pretty much immediately. There's also this cute page where you match eye color, skin color and hair color. You'd hate to make a mistake on any of those things. They almost had me (heh, heh), but Sarah has two lovely freckles arranged horizontally below her left eye, and I didn't see any way to arrange that for the doll.
This seems like the ultimate self absorbtion/self indulgence exercise for you and your child. The "W" Factor.
In any case...Granny, here's your cover.
Don Wheeler
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