a doll-less house

Reading one of SassyLawyer’s posts truly gave me something to ponder, and deeply at that. It's about her friend’s only daughter celebrating the peak of her 7th year with a gift from mom: "a four-foot dollhouse custom built to house the Bratz dolls" (full article with photos at http://houseonahill.net)

Replies from fellow readers were mostly those of awe and jealousy, as each one recalled their childhood days with their own favorite doll or, for some, their doll collection. This gave me much reason to look back to my childhood with a sudden realization that I actually grew up in a doll-less house! It just occurred to me, have my sisters and I been stripped off of a traditional way of growing up because dolls were not part of our lives? Which came first, our parents who did not believe in the concept of dolls as toys, or the 3 of us girls manifesting our disregard for dolls and asked for other toys instead?

As far back as I remember, what I considered "toys" were mostly things that involved storybooks, coloring books, crayons, art projects, the traditional jackstone, the alternative chinese jackstone in various colours and textured materials, pick-up-the-sticks, snakes & ladders, and any other toy save for dolls. (I learned to read & write at the age of 3 and was practically reading or reciting any word I saw from anywhere. I came to the point that it has become a daily ritual between dad and I to read to him the day’s headline story out of the morning paper during breakfast.)

While other kids opted to play with their dolls, I sat with the adults and insisted that they teach me to play chess, the guitar, or let them ask me to either spell a word or do numbers. All these as a pre-schooler indeed! I insisted on going to school with my 2 older siblings but due to my very young age, the school simply refused to accept me. I was, however, and after seeing me dressed up in uniform every time my 2 sisters were brought to school, finally allowed to sit-in and participate in the kindergarten class. By some twist of fate, I became a candidate for valedictorian but had to be pulled out, as I weren’t, after all, age-qualified or to put it bluntly, enrolled (sigh).

And so it went, I was into academics and extra-curricular activities from that day forward. I was almost into every programme in school, and when I got home, I still jived with the adults, aunts and uncles who were 20-25 years my senior, learning the latest dance steps or listening to the popular music at that time. Even at age 7, I’d rather listen to Barry White or Marvin Gaye than play tag or hide & seek. I read books and answered puzzles than play, period. My concept of ‘play’ was actively attending and going through all the Girl Scout activities on weekends, or discussing anything under the sun with the grownups, instead of staying home to worry about what new dress Barbie should have.

So if I had a favorite doll when I was growing up, I honestly just don’t remember! After pondering on Sassy’s post, I asked myself : without that stage of enjoying dolls as a kid, do I feel incomplete as an adult? How come my answer is no – did I really miss something?