Although I don’t usually watch reality TV I loved the first series of The Apprentice. Or should I say, I loved watching Donald Trump. His hair, his catch phrases, his statement and restatement of his own ego and the American Dream - I couldn’t take my eyes off it! So I was delighted when DSO found me my very own Donald Trump doll (pictured above). The best part is a button in his back, when you push it Donald’s voice booms out with pearls of wisdom like:
“Avoid shaking hands whenever possible.”
“In my business you gotta be tough, you underperformed and let people walk all over you, as a result your fired!”
“You really think your a good leader? I don’t!”
Unfortunately the kids have discovered Mummy’s Donald doll recently and are quite taken with it! Poor old Donald now has stains all over his clothes, his tie is askew and Little Bro has lost his suit jacket! I guess it’s what the real Donald would look like if he had to spend 24/7 in the company of a toddler and a preschooler rather than barking orders at teams of underlings in a spotlessly clean, enormous New York skyscraper!
The most disturbing part of the whole thing is that Little Bro points at him and says “Dadda”. I guess DSO wears suits to work and Little Bro hasn’t seen many dolls in business attire so in his world it’s not a Donald Trump doll but a Daddy doll. I should also point out that Little Bro cries every morning when DSO leaves for work! From about 5pm in the evening he starts asking for him and checks the front door regularly, waiting to leap into his arms. From that time on, only Daddy will do - you can imagine his fury if DSO isn’t making it home until too late to put him to bed!
So the question I have is whether this is a healthy situation for Lttle Bro? A Daddy doll possibly isn’t a bad thing for a little boy who misses Daddy during the day, but what about the effect of the Donald Trumpisms which are repeated over and over as the kids press his button? Is this having any long term effect on Little Bro’s view of the world?
I’ll really start to worry if he leans across the dinner table when I present dinner one night and says - “No Mummy, no vegetables - your fired!”.
doll, Donald Trump, pre schooler, toddler
March 5th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
It’s like Donald keeps telling us: “Brand yourself and toot your own horn!” Well he’d know!
I think he did that when he had vicarious cosmetic enhancement. Why undergo surgery when you can redesign yourself from scratch in doll-form and distribute your likeness to households across the world and slip insidiously into the consciousness of Little Bro while DSO is out bringing home the bacon.
March 6th, 2007 at 7:17 am
Very true DSO. Maybe there is a market for dolls that really do look like Daddy.
There could be one ine every shape and size - “white collar, overworked, living in the fear of dismissal under the new IR laws daddy” , “unemployed, drug addled daddy” and “blue collar hugely succesfull small business trade daddy making the most of the skills shortage” just to name a few!