The six-year-old friend took one look at Caroline’s 18-inch doll, sniffed and said, “that is NOT an American Girl Doll. This is an American Girl doll.” She flipped her own doll over and showed her the two strings hanging down the back of her real, American Girl doll.
Suddenly, Caroline, who had played quite happily with her 18-inch dolls, decided she too wanted The Doll. And not just any doll from the American Girl catalogue, she wanted the blue-eyed doll that bore her name ‘Caroline.’
She asked her mom. Her mom shook her head. She would not spend $115 on a doll. “But if you want one bad enough to save up your own money for a doll, you can buy one,” she said.
Six year-olds do not earn a lot of money. Her mom let her earn extra money doing chores. Caroline began filling her bank with quarters and dollars.
As the family prepared to take a vacation, each child withdrew cash from their banks to buy souvenirs. Caroline shook her head. “I am not going to buy any souvenirs. I am saving my money for an American Girl doll.”
“But what if you find a really cool …” her brother began. Caroline shook her head. She would not take any money to spend.
The pile of cash grew slowly. Very slowly. “I figure she will have the money in about eight months,” her mom said. The only problem came with the announcement that the very American Girl doll Caroline had chosen was about to be retired. It would not be available in eight months.
Just to make sure her daughter would get the doll she wanted when she had enough money, her mother went online and ordered the doll. It came to the house in a plain package.
She called bubbling with excitement, “I am so excited for Caroline. The doll is here. When she saves up enough money we will ‘order the doll’ and wait a couple days to get it in the mail.”
The pink doll box returned to its shipping wrapper and went onto a very high shelf out of the view of little blue eyes. “If she changes her mind and decides she does not want the doll, I can sell it for more than I paid for it.” her mom said confidently.
The unopened box laid on the shelf for months. The company sold its last doll. The price began creeping up on eBay and Amazon.com.
School began for the year and the teacher sent home a book order. Caroline likes dolls; she loves books. She lives in a home with half a dozen, tall bookshelves overflowing with books for children of all ages. She wanted more books. She filled out the book order.
“Don’t you want to save that money for the American Girl doll?” her dad asked.
Christmas came and Caroline still lacked about 20 percent of the money. Her great-grandmother had a set amount of money she wanted the parents to use to buy gifts for the children to open when they visited her at Christmas time. Great-grandmother’s monetary gift would cover the final cost of the American Girl doll.
Mother and daughter sat in front of the computer and ‘ordered’ the doll.
A festive, long package waited for Caroline under the tree at great-grandmother’s room at the retirement home.
Caroline opened the package, squealed and began releasing her American Girl doll from its packaging. She had worked hard, denied herself and saved money for months for this doll.
The rest of the day whenever her mother called, “Caroline, come here,” the child smiled and answered, “Which one?”
Last week, she and her mother went grocery shopping together: Momma with the new baby, Caroline with her new doll. At the grocery store, she found a child-sized grocery cart and the four strolled through the grocery aisles chatting and choosing food for the family. Caroline emphatically told her mother that she would make different choices for her children when she grew up.
Only time will tell if those differences will include going to the store and purchasing every popular, expensive toy that her child wants.
Joan Hershberger is a staff writer for the El Dorado News-Times.