Talking dolls prompt reflection, questions

The loud, high-pitched voices coming from my daughter's talking dolls puts me on edge.

I'm not quite used to their voices and rush to find their off switches and volume dials. (I know, I know. How can I be so mean to a cute little doll?)

"Baby go … Mama!," blares one pink overall-clad Cabbage Patch Kids doll as she walks a few steps, wiggling her arms.

"Zip it up and zip it down," orders a second girl doll with zippers and snaps on her outfit.

The rest of her sentence is indecipherable to me. I've played back the sentence repeatedly at home and work.

My co-worker claims she hears the word "taco" in that mystery sentence but I think it's more like "cotton candy." I guess we'll never know unless I call the doll's manufacturer.

Anyhow, I didn't notice the plethora of talking dolls, interactive books and toys until my daughter Maria was born two years ago.

As an infant, she received mostly quiet, battery-free toys, like soft stuffed animals to cuddle with. Which was nice for her quiet, laid back mom.

On Christmases and birthdays, she graduated to larger, louder, battery-powered toys, including a few talking dolls. Sometimes I think they're made to startle adults like me during a nightly lock-down of the house.

I was used to quieter toys as a child. Sure, I owned dolls and stuffed animals, but I don't remember them talking.

Which begs the question: What are the benefits of talking dolls? The automated books and toys are educational and can be teaching tools.

Children obviously learned to talk before the days of Chatty Cathy.

The doll was considered revolutionary when released in stores in 1960, according to an online article.

Chatty Cathy spoke 11 phrases and inspired a 1963 Twilight Zone program where "Talky Tina" was featured as an evil doll.

Of course, most everyone knows the term Chatty Cathy. It's sometimes used to describe a talkative person.

But this week, the benefits of talking dolls came to me.

One of Maria's birthday gifts was a red and black ladybug doll that says "I love you."

Maria's reply? "I love you too."

Lynne Lynch is the Columbia Basin Herald county reporter. Her co-workers were relieved to discover the tiny child-like voice emanating from her desk drawer was a doll.