Colorado To Require Day Care Centers to Have Dolls of Different Races

Colorado just released a host of new rules for its daycare centers, including requiring that the have dolls of at least three different races.

The rules are part of 98-page list of regulations meant to standardize and improve the state's daycare centers. (Colorado is ranked 43rd in child care oversight, according to the National Center of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.)

But as with any government regulations --- and especially those involving race --- some folks are not too keen on the new guidelines, saying they restrict their choices and could even force some centers out of business. Meredith Carroll at Strollerderby thinks that "requiring dolls of at least three different races seems a bit silly (why not transgender or handicapped dolls, too, while they're at it?)."

But what, exactly, does Carroll find so "silly"about that notion? While some of the regulations might place onerous burdens on daycare centers, it's not clear what the practical objection might be to object to about the rules on multi-ethnic dolls. The attendant costs would be almost negligible compared to the larger costs of running a daycare center. But the social costs might be incalculable. We know toys play an important role in helping lay the foundation for how people understand gender and race. Five decades after the famous study in which black girls chose white dolls to play with over black ones, dolls remain the focus of subtle signalling about race, beauty and acceptability.

Having the dolls doesn't solve all of the problems around teaching diversity --- the universe of possible cringeworthy, racefail moments boggles the mind --- but it's a good first step, and a pittance to pay to make sure some children don't feel needlessly alienated.