This weekend I saw my parents. I was visiting for Mother’s Day. They are in their 80s, inevitably our conversation turned to different memories. I’m not sure why, but we started talking about toys we had as kids. I asked my mother if she had FINALLY gotten rid of that clown doll my twin brother had. It was scary looking. For the longest time, my mother had kept it in this trunk of hers.

I always had a bit of a fright when I opened that trunk, and there was that doll with the scary grin. She said she had given it to my brother. I hope he gave it away. We discussed how some people have a real fear of clowns. I don’t have a fear of them, I just didn’t like that doll. It was a plush type of doll. It came out during the popularity of the “Bozo the Clown” show. Anyone remember him? I never liked that show either.

My mother loved the Raggedy Ann dolls. Coming from Italy, they didn’t have dolls that looked like that, so she was always collecting them. She said, just like clowns, there we people who found these dolls scary. Really, I would not have thought that.

So, what doll, stuffed animal or toy did you or your kids dislike growing up?