The kids and I made a special trip to Toys R' Us tonight in search of an Army doll. First, let me give you a little backstory. My soon-to-be five-year-old daughter, Alison, has a doll house and she LOVES to play Barbies. My two-year-old son, Aidan, also LOVES to play, "Barbie house", as he calls it. My wife and I know that it is innocent, but none-the-less, we'd prefer that he play with more "boyish" toys. He loves "truck trucks" and hockey, so it's not that he just plays with Barbies all the time but when he does play Barbies with his sister, we would like him to be able to play with a "manly" doll instead of a Barbie. Now I know what you're thinking, "why don't you just get him a Ken doll?" Well, since Ken is technically still a "Barbie doll," we'd prefer to have something a little more masculine.
Skip to tonight. I'm all jazzed up because I think I can find Aidan a doll, the same size as a Barbie, but one that is decked in camo and face paint, or at least a big Superman, etc. Well, guess what, there were none to be found. When I was a kid, I was fortunate enough to have one of the big G.I. Joe dolls, but unfortunately I do not know what happened to it. I'm sure it would be worth a lot of money today, partially for the nostalgic value but even more so because there doesn't seem to be anything similar out there today. Now, if you want a wrestling doll from WWE, WWF, or any number of other fake wrestling acronyms, you can find a whole aisle. Also, if you want a 10" Batman or Spiderman doll, they do have them but they are dressed in black now for some reason. I guess "heroes" have to be dark and brooding these days. Personally I have a hard time telling the heroes from the villains. Oh, and don't even get me started on the girls' dolls; Alison is lucky she gets to play with Barbies. Most of the dolls targeted at little girls these days look like hookers, and the name "Bratz" doesn't exactly send girls the right message either in my opinion.
Why don't they make dolls of positive role models anymore? The aisles at the toy stores should be filled with armed forces dolls, firefighter dolls, doctor dolls (and I don't mean superficial plastic surgeon dolls holding silicone implants in their hands either), and even dare I say................clergy dolls! Of course I know those dolls would not sell or otherwise the shelves would be full of them. Whose fault is it though that the shelves aren't full of these positive role model dolls? Is it because the evil executives at the toy manufacturers are conspiring to subliminally turn our children into dark, brooding, fake wrestlers when they grow up? Probably not. We live in the most capitalistic society in the world and toy manufacturers and retailers simply operate on a supply and demand model. They do not carry entire aisles of firefighter or Army dolls because there is not that much demand for firefighter or Army dolls. Why do you ask? Because we are failing as a society to raise our children with strong moral values based on solid Christian doctrine.
We must be constantly conscious of the external influences we are exposing our children to on a daily basis. Let's face it, even though the majority of Americans identify themselves as "Christian," most of them do not attend church regularly. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they do attend church at least once a week as a family; if that's the case, their children are getting one hour a week of what I would hope is positive Christian teachings (unless they attend Trinity United Church of Christ with Barack Obama where they tend to be a little negative). What are they being exposed to during the remainder of their waking hours (~104 hours per week)? Television and movies? Violent video games? Music with suggestive lyrics? I can't answer for everyone else, but what I can say is that I can do a better job as a parent. Rather than detailing what my children are exposed to on a daily basis, I will just take partial blame for their not being more true hero dolls on the shelves of the toy stores and leave it at that.
Pope John Paul II once stated the following in a papal document titled, "The Media: Modern Forum for Promoting the Role of Women in Society":
"The media would do well to focus on the true heroines of society, including the saintly women of the Christian tradition, as role models for the young and for future generations."
Let's face it, while it would be wonderful if the media would help enrich our children's lives with positive role models, I believe it will never happen. We are more desensitized than ever to sex and violence on television and I see it only getting worse. All we can do is limit our children's exposure to these negative influences and whenever possible replace them with positive ones. Oh yeah, there is one more thing we can do, we can pray. We can pray for them AND with them. St. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28:
"16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit, 20 do not despise prophesying, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good, 22 abstain from every form of evil. 23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 25 Brethren, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 27 I adjure you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brethren. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."
Maybe, just maybe, if we do as St. Paul tells us, Christ will end up being our children's hero, and if we do a good job, maybe we can get on their hero list too.
