Does dolls skin color matter?

Question

I'm getting my 21 months old son a doll for Christmas to strengthen his nurturing side and teach compassion and caretaking of other human beings. The doll I've found can be bought in many different skin colors.
Our family is predominantly white and we live in a predominantly white society. However, we have chosen to move to a diverse area and the children in kindergarten are too, so my son will grow up with friends of many different skin colors.
Does the skin color of a doll matter?
I've seen the YouTube videos of little children saying white dolls are prettier than brown dolls and I don't want my child to grow up with such misconceptions.

Answer

If you can, maybe get a few, even over time, with different skin colors. I'm reading a book on how to raise kids to intentionally not be racist/prejudice and it says not talking about race will leave kids to come up with their opinions about race from our current culture which will most likely lead them to be prejudice. You have to intentionally talk about race. In the instance of the dolls, if you intentionally comment on each dolls color and say each of the skin colors are beautiful then the child will learn that.

Answer

I love your outlook on raising your little one🥰 I’d get a few different complexions and let him play with them all while teaching him to treat them equally.

Answer

If we are going to teach our children how to break the systemic racism and implicit bias, we must start now while they’re young. One way we can is by having toys and books and shows that feature other races and cultures. 
So, yes. It matters. But what matters more is the intention behind it

Answer

My daughter has dolls of every skin color. She likes all of them or none of them depending on the day lol

Answer

We have a bunch of dolls, all colors.  Doesn’t matter to us. I don’t see why it would🤷🏼‍♀️

Answer

It doesn't matter really. Kids don't think in terms of color. We do, then we impress ourselves upon them.

Answer

I don’t think it matters. My son has dolls in a few different skin tones, and I hope to get him more. When I was growing up, my best friend (who is white) would always pick out the black babies at the store because she didn’t think anyone else would buy them. This is not a racist remark, so please don’t take it that way. She thought this because we lived in a very small town where there were literally no black or Asian people, she was also very sheltered and did not have tv or internet, so she had no exposure to people outside of those in our community, so I guess she thought that they didn’t exist so the babies were not going to be the same as anyone else. 
I think it’s great for all children to have a variety of skin colors in their toys.

Answer

We have both. We got some nasty looks at the grocery store from older lady's but my very white daughter picked her doll out because she was a ballerina, she doesn't care about color why should we.

Answer

I buy my daughter dolls with the same color as her skin (we’re white). I am a teacher in a predominantly black and Hispanic area. When I did virtual teaching during the pandemic, she was always saying hi to my kids so she saw them. One of my closest coworkers is black and she’s seen her in person countless times. A few of her preschool teachers are POC. She loves them. We’ve always, always told her that every skin color is beautiful. I’ve never seen or heard her say anything negative about anyone’s skin color. But you know what I have heard? I’ve heard her say how beautiful a girl was on the Dunkin line (she was a POC) this morning. I listen to her tell me stories about her “best friend” in her class who is a POC. I watch her interact with my coworker and treat her like she treats anyone else. I don’t think it matters what color doll you buy them. It matters how you treat people and what your child sees you do as their parent.

Answer

Get both! Brown and white!

Does dolls skin color matter?

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