This Christmas there will be thousands of dolls that have arrived at the homes of the little ones, many of whom will play tirelessly to imitate the roles of caring for a baby. But what are those roles? How do you take care of a baby? Because many of these dolls are always accompanied by certain accessories that, although they are deeply rooted in our western culture, also imply a decision about parenting.
How many of the baby dolls that have been given this Christmas included a bottle as a basic accessory? How many of those toy babies were breastfeeding?
Visiting corridors and aisles full of toys, as I suppose we have done almost every dad in recent weeks, I asked myself these questions. If the dolls that imitate being babies are a symbolic game of raising and caring for a child, why is it assumed that all babies use a pacifier, go in strollers, use cribs and take a bottle? Wouldn't it be absurd in certain houses? Is there an alternative for families in which these types of accessories are not used?
Yes, there is an alternative to toy babies who only take bottles. It is possible that it is not in any toy store (I have only seen it online), but in stores such as Mama is the Milk they have a Wolverine Baby, which we have talked about for a long time in Babies and More: a doll that takes breast thanks to a top that can be placed the child who wants to play with him. And, so that it is not said that he does few things, once he has finished breastfeeding, if you place him on the shoulder and help him with some patting on his back, he belches.
I thought it was a great idea. After all, the children do what they see, and if at home they see mom breastfeed or they are breastfeeding, the logical thing is that they also want to do it with their dolls. And if we are changing from the base this deeply rooted culture that we have in which it seems that there is only one way to do things, better than better. It seems to me a positive way to reinforce values as necessary as breastfeeding and naturalize the act of breastfeeding.
Do you like the idea? Do you think it's a controversial toy? Would you give your children a toy baby breastfeeding?
