What Are Dolls For, Anyway?

 "When are you going to tell me what we're here for?" Jolena asked, as the dolls climbed up onto the bed for a chat.

"How about now?" Mandy answered. "I don't know everything about it, but I have some ideas."

The dolls gathered around.

"I think a doll's purpose has to do with people, especially children," Mandy suggested. "I read some things on my box that make me think that."

"Yes," Veronika agreed. "I think dolls are designed to teach, comfort and entertain people, especially children. Children and adults need dolls to teach them to love others."

"How does that work?" Jolena asked.

"I think children, and adults, too, learn to love others by caring for those who can't look after themselves," Mandy suggested.
"I think you're right, Mandy," Veronika agreed. "We can pretend to dress ourselves or others..."

"...but we can't really dress ourselves."
"No," added Charlotte. "We need a human person to put our clothes on us."

"I think I understand," said Mariah. "It's like how we can only pretend to fix our own hair."

"Yes, or to fix the hair of another doll," said Veronika.

"But we can't really do it," agreed Charlotte. "Someone has to do it for us."

"Pretending is fun," said Mariah, "but we really need help from a human person to fix our hair."

"Yes," said Jolena. "We can pretend to eat and drink, but we can't really do it. We don't really need to eat and drink, but we like to pretend to do it."
"Yes," agreed Charlotte. "Someone has to fix the food and help us pretend to eat."
"Girls and boys may be parents someday," added Mandy. "Looking after dolls teaches them how to be good parents."

"So when children dress us and fix our hair, or feed us, they begin to care for us, so it helps them learn to care for other people, I think," Mariah said. "They get to know us. We become important to them, so then they can feel that for other people, too."

"I also think children learn to comfort others by comforting dolls," Mandy suggested. "Sometimes we pretend to be sad, and we want someone to give us a hug or a kiss to make us feel better."

"Or we pretend to be happy, and a child or grownup can be happy with us," agreed Jolena. "We love to share our joy with others."

"Or we pretend that we want to give them kisses," suggested Veronika, "and they kiss us back."

"Or we can pretend to be really, really annoyed because our water bottle or something else broke, and we need help to fix it," said Mandy.

"Besides teaching children to care about others, all those things children do for dolls can teach them how to do them for themselves, like buttoning buttons, fastening that tape that grabs itself and tying shoes," Mandy added.

"We can have adventures when human people pretend with us," said Veronika. "That's fun for us and for the people in our lives. Remember when The Writer dressed us up for Halloween in the costumes the dogs wouldn't wear, and pretended we were the first trick-or-treaters who showed up at their house and were turned into dolls?" Veronika asked.

"Yes," laughed Mandy. "We had to be very still when they came, and not move, so the trick-or-treaters would think we were real children who had been turned into dolls."

"One of the trick-or-treaters yelled, 'Honey, I shrunk the kids!' and they laughed," Veronika remembered. "That was fun!"
"They laughed, and our people family members laughed," added Mandy. "It's good for them to laugh."

"Then we watched TV and ate the rest of the candy, because no more kids came," agreed Veronika with a smile.

"We pretended to eat the candy," Mandy corrected, "and the children stopped coming because it was late, but it was fun."

"Dolls can pretend to do other things, like doing tricks on skis," said Jolena.

"Or we can pretend to play an instrument," said Charlotte.

"That helps children imagine how they might be able to do those things, too," Veronika said. "It's easier to learn things if you can imagine yourself doing them."

All the dolls know one thing: Dolls don't really do fun things unless children help them. Dolls need children to dress them, to fix their hair and to pretend fun adventures with them.


Dolls can pretend to read a book alone....

...or they can pretend to read to each other...

...but what they really like best is for you to read to them.

When children look after dolls, they learn to care about someone besides themselves. The dolls enjoy it, too. Why not read a story...maybe Mandy's book, or maybe this story...to your dolls?

(If you don't know how to read yet, you can pretend. Just tell your doll what you see in the pictures.)

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Dolly: Madame Alexander "Let It Snow"

You can follow The Doll's Storybook here.

Do you have questions or comments for us? Would you like to order an autographed copy of one of our books? You can email us at thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz, Classic Kidz or Little Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any organization that supports pediatric cancer research and treatment. We are not affiliated with St. Jude in any way other than these donations.

"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 1:00 PM Pacific Time.

Mariah: Stories from the Doll's Storybook, Emil: Stories from the Doll's Storybook and soon Classic Tales Retold: Stories from the Doll's Storybook are available from BookBaby and other booksellers worldwide, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Royalties (net proceeds) go to support pediatric cancer research and treatment. If you don't get free shipping elsewhere, buy from Book Baby. Half of the price goes to St. Jude. Autographed copies of all three books are available from the author for $20 including shipping. (Multiple books to the same address have a discount on shipping.) To inquire, email thedollsstorybook@icloud.com.

Image on Mariah's yellow T-shirt used with permission, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.

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