The Doll Blog

An insider’s look at everything dolls; from dolls as toys, to art dolls, to collectible dolls, to the doll industry

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The Lost Doll

August 20th, 2008 · No Comments

We got this email the other day:

“You guys are life savers. My daughter had a cloth doll that was left in a rental car. She has cried for 4 days. Continue with the business of doll making. Your dolls are so darling. I am certain that she will cherish this new one forever.”

We had the right African American rag doll in our PattycakeDoll.com store; order placed and doll delivered… Happy Ending.

But not all lost baby doll stories have happy endings, unfortunately, throughout our years in the doll industry, we’ve heard lots of sad stories about ‘The Lost Doll.’

There’s even a somewhat famous poem called ‘The Lost Doll’ written by the English poet Charles Kingsley over a hundred years ago:

I once had a sweet little doll, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world;
Her cheeks were so red and white, dears,
And her hair was so charmingly curled.
But I lost my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day;
And I cried for her more than a week, dears,
But I never could find where she lay.

I found my poor little doll, dears,
As I played in the heath one day;
Folks say she is terribly changed, dears,
For her paint is all washed away,
And her arms trodden off by the cows, dears,
And her hair not the least bit curled;
Yet for old sakes’ sake, she is still, dears,
The prettiest doll in the world.

So, if you’re the parent of a desperately unhappy child, and you have feverishly been searching the internet and stumbled onto this blog, what do you do?

  • Try to recognize how much of the child’s anguish you have caused by your reaction. Like if you’ve gone OMG! ballistic and frantic… your child is going to ramp it up as well. So step one – calm down. Don’t let your panic, anxiety or guilt roll over onto the child; do a due diligence search with the child to see if you can find the lost doll, and then as quickly as possible,
  • -Find a suitable substitute fast – transfer the child’s attachment to a new lovey. It doesn’t have to be exact! It just has to be suitable to the child. Many a time we’ve offered “Lovey’s little sister, or Boo-Boo Panda for Boo-Boo Bear, or even a complete replacement… “Big Bird heard you lost your ‘Fuffy Cat’ and wanted to come play with you” – and had it work out just fine.

    • Once your world finally settles back down, here are a couple of additional suggestions:

  • Teach your child to have different favorites for different things, like a bedtime favorite that stays with the bed! Or a Little Miss Back-up lovey that keeps your child company when Number One goes in the wash.
  • If you see a child is really really attached to a particular doll, teddy or lovey, buy a second one now before there’s a problem.

    • Hope that helped. Good Luck!

    Tags: Dolls · Lost Dolls