Soapbox

So I’ve got this kid… and since she’s getting bigger, I decided to buy her a Skipper doll.

I was a bit hesitant, wondering what my mother would say about this. You see, when we were kids we were not allowed to have Barbie dolls of any kind, because they represented the objectification of women, or something like that. Actually, I think that my mother was rather ahead of her time in her views, now that I am an adult.
However, I remember that when I was the only kid in town without a Barbie, I thought my Mom was nuts for making that rule, and hey, I’m looking to score a few points with my daughter. Also, I thought making doll clothes would be a lot of fun. (I have a lot of left-over fabric!)

But I got her a Skipper, since she’s only three. (And since I don’t want her to say, “How come you’re not shaped like my dolly is shaped, Mommy?”) She adored it from the minute she opened it, and named it “Camping” so of course I made the doll a tent. Katie takes baths with Camping and then she and the doll put on matching pajamas and the doll sleeps in a little bed right next to hers.

She went to visit her Grandma last week, and apparently, hell actually froze over while she was there. Not only did my mother not find it objectionable that my daughter had this doll, but the story from my daughter’s lips is that Grandma took her to the Barbie aisle of the toy store and said,
“You may choose any doll here that you like, and Grandma will buy it for you.”

Imagine how far my eyes bugged out of my head when Katie came home with a Doctor Barbie (Complete with mini-skirt and stiletto heels, of course) that her doting grandma had bought for her! My scabby-kneed daughter, whose favorite outfit involves shorts on backwards and hiking boots is now pestering me to make some party dresses for Doctor B.

Of course I immediately called my mother and asked her what had possessed her!
“Hey- I’m a Grandma now” was her only reply. “I gave her a cookie right before dinner, too. That’s what Grandma’s do.”
Wow! What is this Grandma disease, and when can I catch it?