Big Kid

If I've learned anything from my daughter when she pages through a toy store catalog, it's that kids like to have toys that look like them! And now all the little kids who were forced to go bald -- from cancer or some other disease -- have a new friend in the folks at American Girl.

The company has introduced its first ever bald doll for kids to cuddle! They come in a variety of skin tones so every kid gets one who looks just like them. Oh, and if you've already shelled out the mega bucks to get your kiddo an American Girl doll that has locks, they'll retro-fit the body with a new hairless head. How cool is that?

Of course we've already heard that Mattel is giving kids Bald Barbie sometime in the next year, so this isn't exactly breaking ground, but that doesn't make this announcement from American Girl any less noteworthy. I say the more the merrier!

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This is just want kids want. If you don't believe me, let me just relate a revelation I had during the "girly" LEGO debate a few months back. When I asked my daughter why she liked them, she didn't talk about the pink that had parents all up in arms. She just wanted minifigures that looked LIKE HER. Can you blame her?

I look at bald dolls much the way I do multicultural dolls. The more the toys on the shelves represent the many different kids who will be playing with them, the better message we are sending to our kids. It's a subtle way to teach kids that being "different" doesn't make them weird. That applies to the kid who plays with something that looks like them ... and it applies to other kids too.

As humans, that which is different scares us. So imagine the daycare that stocks a bald American Girl or bald Barbie. Those kids will -- hopefully -- be more likely to encounter a bald child in the future and react with kindness. Because to them, baldness will be familiar.

Will you be buying a bald American Girl for a kid in your life?

Image via American Girl Facebook