The Internet has fallen in love with a little girl who, by her choice of doll, has given us all hope that the next generation will make the world a better place. It all started out with an Instagram post made by the little girl’s mother that described an interesting experience at the toy store. As a reward for being fully potty-trained, the little girl was given the opportunity to choose any doll she wanted. She picked out a doll dressed as a doctor, with dark skin and black hair. When the mother and daughter went to pay for the doll, the cashier questioned the little girl’s choice of doll. Since the girl is blonde with light skin, the cashier couldn’t imagine why she would have chosen a doll that looks so different than she does. The girl defended her choice, saying that she thought the doll is pretty just like she is, and that the doll is a doctor just like she is.

Wow. Can we just have toddlers teach each other from now on? This story is so important to us because we believe that teaching children to love others who are different than themselves is just as important as teaching children to love themselves. As a company that specializes in 18 inch dolls, we face the look-alike issue on a daily basis, and we basically say to our customers what that little girl said to the cashier. Just like the girl wanted a doll that was a doctor, we have customers who fall in love with a certain one of our characters because of the theme that it teaches about. But, if that character is not available in our online store with the exact hair, eye and skin color of the customer’s child, they often call or email us, asking to place a special order to get a look-alike doll. We are more than happy to fill those special orders, because we recognize that in many situations having a mini-me buddy can be very beneficial for a child. However, we always try first to convince the customer that it’s very likely their child will not see skin, hair or eye color to be as significant as an adult would, and the child will probably care more about the theme or character of the doll. We try to explain that a child will recognize beauty in a doll’s features, even if they are different than their own, just like the little girl with blonde hair was able to very frankly explain to the cashier that she thought the black hair on the doll she chose was beautiful, just like her’s!