To the Editor:
It is with very disturbed feelings that I submit this letter.
As a society, we advocate to protect children from abuse. I read the article “Grandma’s dolls made for whacking” (Dec. 16 Advance, page 3) about a Dammit Doll, a doll created for the purpose of being whacked by a person who is out of control and they feel that they must hit something.
I do understand what Nancy Crest is saying, and illness is never easy to deal with, especially when it is a child. My prayers go out to Nancy and her daughter.
I can also understand how people need to release pent up frustration. However, I don’t agree with the notion of hitting for release, especially a doll, which children are taught to cuddle, nurture and care for in the same way that a younger child or baby is cared for. I know it is a very fine line, but in this day and age where very serious child abuse cases are being revealed, I don’t think that we should be supporting the use of whacking dolls that are constructed in the image of children. To do so, in my opinion, suggests that abusing children is OK — but it is not.
How can we, as a society, accept that hitting in frustration is OK? We need to find a more acceptable method of assisting people to release frustration. Hitting is one form of abuse, and abuse is abuse, never an acceptable solution, and hitting a doll, with child imagery, is not acceptable at all. I think we as parents, grandparents, spouses, neighbors all need to set positive examples of anger and frustration management control for children.
So, I guess I will not be buying a Dammit Doll.
Lynn Becker
Creston