How I Know Your Kid Is a Jerk

Yes, your kid. She’s a jerk.

My eight-year-old daughter likes to make crafts. About two years ago, my wife came across a woman who calls herself “My Froggy Stuff” and who makes shockingly good doll accessories out of things you’ve likely already got in your house. She regularly posts YouTube videos demonstrating how, with infinite patience and care, you too can make a doll vending machine or cash register or doll party stuff or just about doll anything else. She also ends each video with a short skit that uses whatever she just showed you how to craft, with what we assume are dolls as stand-ins for herself and her daughter. These little shows are uniformly adorable, made even more so by the “shout out” they give at the end to a crafter in the community who has sent in work inspired by the videos.

It’s all uplifting and self-affirming and shot through with a genuine sense of You Can Do It Yourself. And as far as we can tell, this lady doesn’t do it for money. She does have an Etsy page, sure, but she doesn’t push craft kits or branded scissors, doesn’t endorse any particular line of dolls or accessories. She doesn’t even ask for donations or viewer support. If anything, My Froggy Stuff threatens whole swaths of the Doll Industrial Complex with her high-quality industriousness. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a doll tree house when you can make your…