I gave my daughter her first AG doll, Samantha, when she was 5 years and 9 months old. I read the Samantha series with her. When reading with your DD, it gives you the opportunity to talk about things that happen in the books.

Our Samantha is still in fine shape. Her hair isn't perfect, but these dolls are pretty sturdy and made to be played with. I wouldn't say my DD who is now 11 is extremely careful with all toys, but with her AGs she never damaged in any way. It was more a matter of losing shoes and accessories.

I guess the mother knows her child best. If the mother feels it's not a good idea, it probably isn't. My DD was/is a pretty gentle child and was more "messy" than "hard" on her things when she was 5.

The nice thing about getting a girl an AG when they are 5 is that there are plenty more years for her to collect and still be in the target age fitting into matching AG clothes, etc. I think AG really helped to inspire my daughter to love reading, too. We loved reading the books together at that age. It is just as fun and interesting for the Mom. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ May 15, 2006 03:37 PM: Message edited by: judiaci ]</font>