Both my children, the girl and the boy, have pretended to nurse their dolls and stuffed animals. The boy even pretended to breastfeed his toy car a few times. I breastfeed for four years between the two of them, and I was one of those "in your face" women who though breastfeeding in public is normal and if you don't like it, get used to it or look the other way. My baby has a right to eat, you know? Yet I have to admit, this doll makes me feel a bit weird. What about this doll, said to recreate "the magic of motherhood" on their adverts, makes a lot of people cringe, me included?
I see nothing weird about kids pretending to nurse their dolls, stuffed animals, or cars if they like, and I think it's totally natural. Just like kids will imitate mom doing the washing up or mowing the lawn, or writing blog posts (yes, mine do this!), they might pretend to nurse their babies. It's that tank top and those little flowers that cause the problem, I think. Flowers instead of nipples? It reminds me, I have to say, of some very inappropriate Japanese pictures that some male students passed around when I was at university. You can get the picture.
Florida psychologist Jay Reeve said to ABC news: "Of course, children have played 'parent' with dolls for centuries, but this new twist seems to focus not on what babies are like as much as jump-starting a focus on breast-feeding, I'm always a little disturbed by toys, games, or products that have the impact of accelerating childhood identification with being a full-blown adult." I don't think it's even that. Identifying with adults is fine. It is adults pushing little kids to do so that is freaky. What do you think? The real moms among us may like to read about weight loss and breastfeeding.
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