2-Year-Old Sticks Up For Herself When Cashier Questions Her Choice Of Doll & Makes Mom Proud

Jul 06, 2023

They say that out of the mouth of children can come the most surprising and honest words that can’t help but leave you in wonderment. Such was the case for one mother from Clover, South Carolina, whose 2-year-old daughter caught her off guard with an astonishing response to a rude question posed to her by a cashier.

In 2017, mom Brandi Benner was out shopping with her daughter, Sophia Benner. Sophia had just learned how to use the potty, and Brandi decided to reward her little girl with a gift. They headed to a Target store, and Brandi told her that she could pick out a special reward for completing her potty training. After 20 minutes, a doll dressed as a doctor caught Sophia’s eye. Brandi said this came as no surprise as Sophia loved to play doctor at home and regularly gave family members “check-ups”

“She was looking at all the dolls and telling me they were all so pretty and when she saw the doctor one she stopped and said, ‘Mommy, she’s a doctor like me! I want this one,’” Brandi told PEOPLE.

Once Sophia’s heart was set, she excitedly made her way with her mother to the cashier. However, it was there that the pair encountered a cashier who seemed far less thrilled about the intended purchase. 

“Are you sure this is the doll you want, honey?” the cashier asked, as per a Facebook post that Brandi had shared about the experience. The mother and daughter then looked at each other in puzzlement, but Brandi soon understood the subtext of the cashier’s inquiry. Sophia had picked out a Black doll, but she herself was white. Undeterred, the cashier posed the question to Sophia again, but this time, she gave an answer that blew her mother away.

The cashier continued to press little Sophia on her choice even after the girl had confirmed that this was the doll she wanted. The cashier asked again, “But she doesn’t look like you. We have lots of other dolls that look more like you.”

Before Brandi could step in and give the cashier a piece of her mind, Sophia came back with an amazing response that put her in her place:

“Yes, she does. She's a doctor like I'm a doctor. And I'm a pretty girl and she's a pretty girl. See her pretty hair? And see her stethoscope?”

Brandi said the cashier simply replied, “Oh, that’s nice.” Despite the tense encounter, Brandi told People she didn’t hold anything against the cashier as she was “an elderly woman who looked like my own grandma. I don’t think she understood the implications of her words or how discouraging it could be to anyone else’s daughter.” She added the cashier also expressed that she thought “Sophia was the cutest.”

Brandi said she was surprised by the overwhelming response to her Facebook post but more so proud of her daughter. She told the outlet:

“A kid of one color wanting a doll of another color shouldn’t be a big deal. I just shared it for my friends and family and thought it was cool my daughter stuck up for herself without me having to do anything. But I’m so grateful that people have been touched by it. It was a really proud mom moment.”

As for how a 2-year-old is even aware of the word stethoscope? Brandi revealed it was from watching the show “Doc McStuffins,” although she admitted, “Sophia doesn’t quite say it properly!”

Do you know any other kids that would react the same way? Tell us what you think about the interaction with the cashier and young toddler, and pass this child's heartwarming story on to friends and family members who might relate.