Meet Gwen

Gwen is an American Girl.

When I was growing up the American Girl series was a staple of my bookshelf.
My favorite book was Molly Saves the Day, which was about summer camp and an epic Capture the Flag game. I owned the entire Kirsten series as well as the Felicity series and a few Samantha books*. I remember the glossy catalogs that came to our house full of dolls and accessories; but I was never very interested. I just liked the stories.

Now, the American Girl company is much much bigger. I went to visit the American Girl Place in Chicago a few years ago, and ate in their restaurant. We were provided with dolls to sit with us at the table as we sipped pink lemonade. I was astounded as we toured the rest of the building to find out that you can now pay to have your doll's hair done, or get her ears pierced.

Perhaps it is because of the huge expanse of the corporation that a great deal of controversy surrounds Gwen, a pretty blond doll who is... homeless.

Apparently Gwen has been around since January, but a recent NY Post story has brought the doll new attention. My favorite back-and-forth debate has been taking place in the comments section of the article posted by ParentDish.com.

Parents are debating everything from whether or not the company should be donating money to homeless shelters for every sale of the doll, to the nature of what homelessness is.

Personally I don't care to comment on whether or not Gwen should be more "raggedy," or whether she's "truly" homeless according to the details of the book she appears in.
I think $95 is an outrageous amount of money to spend on a doll whether it's "homeless," or not which might be why I never owned a Molly. The irony that no homeless child could probably ever own such an expensive toy is just a bit of added insult.

However, The American Girl corporation isn't marketing Gwen as "homeless," they are just marketing her as a character from one of the books. They are not obligated to give money to a homeless shelter or healthcare program from "Gwen" sales any more than they are obligated to donate money to the African American History Museum every time they sell an Addy doll. It's just not logical.

As for the social implications of the very existence of the doll, I haven't made up my mind yet.
One one hand, the book "Chrissa Stands Strong," (and by extension, the Chrissa and Gwen dolls) teach young girls that they should reach out to everyone across gender, race and class lines. On the other hand, do they send the message, as one reader pointed out, that we should just accept that some people have and some have not? Do they dull the thirst for justice that we should be instilling in our youth by saying 'it's not so bad that Gwen is homeless'?

I don't have these answers, but I suspect that more good than harm comes from inspiring young girls to reach out and help others. And although the message is a tad moralizing and overly-simplistic, it's not a bad message, and it is certainly a great jumping off point for discussion in the home about bigger and more complex issues.

So if parents are really worried about the message is sends to pay $95 for a doll who represents a character who wouldn't be able to afford a school lunch, then they should be trying in other ways to instill a sense of social justice in their children. Talk with your children about their ideas and opinions. Have your kids come with you to buy a toy for a gift drive at church or temple or the Y. Or let them pick out the cans from your pantry for food donations. Bring them with you when you drop off gently used clothing at Salvation Army.

But don't blame a toy company for doing just what they set out to do.

The Development of Humor

Let's go back to Matrim laughing.
Now, I'm not what anyone would describe as "baby crazy," however, I am fascinated with human development. I am also, because of my 'night job' inherently interested in the idea of a sense of humor, and what makes things funny. The anatomy of a laugh.

To me, a baby laughing in response to a non physical stimulus is the most interesting thing a baby can do because it's a sign of the development of thought process as well as a sign of a developing sense of humor.

To break it down developmentally, Matrim is 15 months old which puts him in the Sensory Motor cognitive stage of development. He is not just a little adult. His brain works differently than mine or yours. He achieves all of his learning through his senses and his developing physical relationship with the world.

By four to eight months infants engage in repetitive behavior to produce interesting effects, such as batting at a mobile to make it move. Or, in the case of Matrim's YouTube video, dropping a toy to produce a noise/make his uncle pick up the toy again.
By the time an infant is fifteen months these repetitive behaviors increase and take on even more intention, as the effects can be predicted by the baby.

When you want to start talking about the beginning of the Development of a Sense of Humor you're beginning to talk about Social Development.

Babies smile in recognition of their mother or father's face or voice when they are only two months old in some cases. They laugh by the age of four months, usually in response to tickling or facial recognition. It's not until months and months later that laughter is elicited by engaging in games like "Peek a Boo." The reason is that only by then has the baby gained the cognitive concept of "object permanence." When Mom's face disappears Baby knows she's behind her hands, but there is some very tense time waiting for her to return. When she does return, with a noise and an abrupt motion Baby laughs, the same way we jump and laugh at the sudden loud noises in scary movies.

But by the time an infant is Matrim's age he is actually finding humor in noises or events. He might laugh if Mom or Dad pretends to eat his food. Or if they make funny faces. This in and of itself is fascinating to me. I have spent many a day in Baystate Children's Hospital trying to make an infant laugh. And most babies past 8 months have already developed enough sense of taste to know what's funny and what's just not. Think about that for a second.

But THEN, even more amazing, the infant learns how to make other people laugh. The same way physical cause and effect was once established, social cause and effect begins to set in when he begins to process which actions or events are positively reinforced by the laughter of those around him.

Matrim, although he is unable to stand on one leg or talk in complete sentence, can make a joke. He is intentionally repeating an action that he knows will be funny, and he thinks it's funny too.

Someday he will move on to more sophisticated humor: first, intentionally garbled words in otherwise familiar songs, moving on quickly to non sequitors, and graduating eventually to puns and knock knock jokes by the time he's nine*. The rule of three comes later. Scatological jokes though, as far as I can tell, are forever.

If the kid is smart, no matter what he'll keep playing to his audience as well as he does now.
And then we'll go on tour.
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* Uncles automatically revert back to this stage once they become Uncles.