My/our family experience has tended to view that sort of toy mutilation as the work of the girls, especially the 3-4 year olds. The now 7 yo twin great-grand daughters left such a trail of wrecked dolls after their passage through those years they're almost ashamed to ask for any new.
Most of the boys in our outfit would sooner be seen in a tux with their hair combed than get caught even touching a (shudder) doll.
Or maybe it's just that we've raised whole generations of rednecks and didn't even notice.
I handled dolls all the time as a kid. Took the heads off ‘em and chased my sister around, waving the decapitated bodies at her. Heh.
My/our family experience has tended to view that sort of toy mutilation as the work of the girls, especially the 3-4 year olds. The now 7 yo twin great-grand daughters left such a trail of wrecked dolls after their passage through those years they’re almost ashamed to ask for any new.
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You might have something there. The boys were the ones caught with the mutilated dolls, but that doesn’t mean they were the ones who mutilated them. I assumed it was the boys because I really liked my dolls and looked after them and assumed my sisters did the same. I’ll have to bring it up for fun the next time we’re all together.
Heh heh! DD was gifted Barbie dolls when she was about 7. She would play with them a little, then tie them onto her pony saddle where they bounced around and took a beating on the fenders. When we found them face down in the pool with their hair trimmed off we knew she was done with that particular doll.