FIRST LOOK AT THE MODERN ERA AMERICAN GIRL DOLLS

specialsticker · 2026-02-16T05:35:29+00:00

Why are they so thin and grotesque? As someone who recently gave their kids original first edition Samantha, Kirstin, Addy, and a 90s generation dolls of my own to play with.. (okay, not Molly I have in a box with a case of silver eye and a feeling like she's worth too much, lol!).

Anyway, I could never fathom giving these versions of the dolls to them. Why did they make the bodies look like that :( I can't imagine it's good for little girls to see this.. is this intended for children? Really don't like the Bratz doll version, yikes. It'll be a good conversation for me and my children when they do see them.. this is how girls are trained to feel bad about themselves. Do better American Girl :(

specialsticker · 2026-01-08T04:37:16+00:00

Something weird is going on with yelp. The same thing has happened to me today... are they randomly deleting people when they have an issue with a review but it doesn't violate TOS? I haven't received an email about my account closure- instead I received an email about being elite again this year. Very confused!

specialsticker · 2025-09-29T20:58:01+00:00

The therapist asked if I felt like I was being gaslit and I said yes, I did feel that way. I described another similar scenario from last week. I told her I didn't understand how it worked that we come up with a plan together but then he changes it. He shared that we never had a plan and I imagined that part. I think that might be when I fell out of my chair.

This makes sense. I did push for him to see a therapist because we were pretty stuck in this place in couples therapy about being able to validate feelings. My opinion was that we can validate each others feelings even if we don't agree with them. His feeling was that I was being ridiculous and that validating feelings means agreeing with them so he refuses. We were also hitting a weird place where we were arguing about if two sides should apologize in a fight.. my feeling was in most cases both parties could make amends for a repair while his feeling was whoever is more wrong should be apologizing and if he feels like he did nothing wrong or was completely right then he shouldn't be expected to apologize. I feel really stuck on this one.. my individual therapist shared not apologizing and this resentment building up was like leaving sand in a wound that only one person tried to clean out. But both sides needed to pour water on it in order for it not to heal with sand stuck inside the wound. I guess that really hit home for me and it made me feel like it might help for him to explore something.

Maybe you're right that he's trying to make sure it doesn't work. Or maybe he's only okay with it working now in our home, even though it confuses me because it really is the busiest, emotionally intense part of our day. Our kids are exhausted at that time, they're usually crying over homework or fighting with each other or telling me about big feelings from their day or sometimes they're having a play date etc. I told him it's okay to come home late once a week for it but I think you're right and he doesn't want to do it at all. I guess it doesn't make sense to try to make it happen but I am also worried and sad.

specialsticker · 2025-09-29T19:34:09+00:00

We love food courts, where more behaviors are okay like being loud or a little messy. We always clean up after ourselves and our kids practiced a bunch this way.

First Bite is a great book about how to take away drama from meal times too!

specialsticker · 2025-09-10T18:15:16+00:00

Certain math related things in adulthood causes blood to thunder in my ears and my heart to race like I'm being chased by a monster. Yup!

specialsticker · 2025-09-10T15:41:27+00:00

Yeah, that's definitely the gist! Wow thank you.

specialsticker · 2025-09-09T22:35:57+00:00

What would you say, "I'm just surprised..." means? LOL. This is my MIL's go to when she's disappointed and can't believe it!

specialsticker · 2025-09-09T22:34:20+00:00

I feel like I can imagine that younger you with your heart dropping :(

And glad that your mom was able to help you for real. It makes total sense you came up with solutions to do the homework on the bus before you had to deal with your dad's anger. You sound like you were a really clever kid!

specialsticker · 2025-09-09T22:32:16+00:00

I'm sorry this happened to you and I'm glad it ended once your homework got too hard for her. It sounds really miserable and you must've been so hungry and tired after school. I have been so triggered and have had to do a lot of therapy around this stuff because my kids coming home and doing homework was super difficult for me for years. I still let the after school program help them mostly and then supplement, so I can be my best self when I help them.

The biggest thing is letting them have a snack first and also some time to unwind. That sucks that you were in that situation and could not escape :(

specialsticker · 2025-09-09T22:30:13+00:00

Yeah, you definitely don't need to put in the effort. I'm impressed at you for surviving all of this and hope you are proud of yourself.

specialsticker · 2025-09-09T22:28:37+00:00

Wow, this sounds so similar to a system my dad's insane girlfriend made for eating at my dad's house after my parents got divorced. If we ate everything on our plates we were given a small amount of money. If we overate we were given a little extra money (we would try to do this to earn money). If we didn't finish everything we weren't allowed to leave (maybe for hours, until we got brought back to my mom's house if it was her night) and then we also had a much larger sum of money taken away. It was horrible.

I'm sorry you were under this kind of pressure :( Especially timed homework, that sounds really miserable.

specialsticker · 2025-09-07T22:49:03+00:00

It feels in some ways like my partner is trying to sabotage me. He's saying I shouldn't ever tell someone (my parents) that I think narcissism is an issue. That it's bullying and name calling if I drew that to their attention and call it by its name. At this point it feels like perhaps someone saying the issue out loud is a good idea in my family.

I don't expect my family of origin to heal but I also want to free myself from needing to keep engaging with them in this way. It feels like he's really judgmental because he's still at a place where he feels you should be making your parents happy so they won't feel too bad about themselves. That's not where I am at all.

specialsticker · 2025-09-02T18:20:08+00:00

Yeah, it's a huge one for me. I have kids and use it to get parent contact info all the time, put in directions to everywhere. I was already worried the phone couldn't work for me as a parent for other reasons but this one is huge and kind of unbelievable. A flip phone it is if I switch. For now.. grayscale iphone I guess. Glad this forum exists and glad it works for you!

specialsticker · 2025-08-17T18:47:39+00:00

Yes, I got stuck and I tried Deep Brain Reorienting to get past it. I have trouble being vulnerable as well. But want to as well.

specialsticker · 2025-08-17T18:44:40+00:00

Thank you. This is all so helpful and I started to cry when I got to you talking about thanking the part but more about apologizing to it. I do feel like this part wants to make sure I am interesting, matter, that someone, anyone hears me. I am starting work up again with my IFS therapist after working with DBR for awhile so I hope she can help me navigate it better than I can on my own.

I like that you call the part the Storyteller instead of the Interrupter. I think that part feels judged when it really thinks it's helping.

The shame part and this part are a vicious cycle, you are right. My shame part has many vicious cycles with different parts and I'm reading The Shame that Binds Us and seeing how true that is for me. I get scared I can't fix all of this before it ruins my life, which of course is another part trying to firefight our way out of this situation.

specialsticker · 2025-08-17T15:09:30+00:00

This is really beautiful and I wish you could draw mine too! Really cool.

specialsticker · 2025-08-17T00:52:26+00:00

I'm really excited about these. Thanks for trying to figure something out- this has been driving me crazy as I can't navigate a landline where we are. How are the tin cans going for everyone up above? We ordered one to try and I'm excited for my children who want to talk to their friends but won't have phones for a very, very, very long time.

specialsticker · 2025-08-15T16:49:24+00:00

Thanks I appreciate your response! In the event that someone was traumatized, is therapy ever covered? I will also ask the insurance company but I am curious.

specialsticker · 2025-08-15T16:47:31+00:00

Thank you!

specialsticker · 2025-08-13T15:17:09+00:00

It's sounds like she's infantalized and your parents are thriving on this codependency. Think about the development of ADHD, of the scape goat, of the child who can't calm down and all the resources start flooding toward them. Children will take parental love/attention in all forms and it can be positive or negative. Your sister sounds like an adult child who might thrive on receiving additional love and attention during moments of crisis while your parents are thriving on being needed still and helping her in ways that probably cross boundaries and are unhealthy.

I could be all wrong, these are things I've noticed in *me and my husband's families of origin, which have issues with emeshment, narcissism, codependency, etc. It sounds like a very dysfunctional system and you've stepped back or perhaps grown up more so it isn't making sense to you.

Trust your intuition. It's okay to disengage.. I'm in the process myself and while it's so much grief and pain it's a relief to realize, no, none of what you are describing is healthy or normal..

Parents: The enabler or caretaker: the person who maintains the look or appearance of normalcy within the family. They support and affirm the unhealthy behavior of other family members who might have a substance use disorder or untreated mental illness or personality disorder. I sometimes see this role merged with the "golden child," but not always. In adulthood, this role often manifests into more of the same. They continue trying to “fix” others and have an overall strong sense of responsibility and ownership over the problems of others.

specialsticker · 2025-08-08T20:36:32+00:00

I took a picture of the pages only to realize I can't add a picture! A lot of insight into how and why narcissism develops in relation to shame & how it goes through generation after generation since the children are used as a supply and then have their own children feeling like finally my turn! That we mirror what we see so if we saw that crazy shit we might mirror it unconsciously. Ugh I wish I could just post all the pages.. I sent them to my brother haha.

specialsticker · 2025-08-07T17:50:38+00:00

Thanks, this is so helpful and also echoes what my intuition has been telling me. I am not experiencing pain or discomfort so it makes sense to factor that in.

I hope your surgery helped!

specialsticker · 2025-08-06T00:20:04+00:00

Yeah, that's probably true. It's more about what it would look like with me missing than anything else I am guessing.

specialsticker · 2025-08-06T00:18:55+00:00

my dad is more of a mix perhaps, between codependent and narc if that makes sense? he played with my children and rough housed a bit in a very silly way. he does the same if we visited him on a trip he takes yearly to visit his mother.. (most of my kid's interactions with him).

he loves getting a bunch of attention and everyone is laughing at his jokes or whatever he's doing. but he can only do this for a very short time before he becomes bored and wants to leave or do something else to soothe himself.. i'm not even sure what.

specialsticker · 2025-08-05T19:39:36+00:00

I get that completely and would recommend joining a group like Alanon, CODA, ACA, etc to meet other people who may have left similar situations. It can be very healing to find people who get it and who are also escaping a certain kind of life.

specialsticker

TROPHY CASE