I never intended to be the kind of parent whose child would own four American Girl dolls. That’s not an admission. It’s more of a confession - similar to the way I feel about paying tuition for private school.

If you’ve been living in a bubble, let me fill you in on the brilliance of the American Girl franchise, founded in 1986 as a catalog business called The Pleasant Company by entrepreneur Pleasant Rowland, a one-time teacher and textbook writer.

Appealing to parents by creating strong girl characters with storylines tied to thematic periods of American history, each doll retails for $100 or so with a starter outfit and book.  Full wardrobe options, furniture and a line of historical fiction are sold separately.

Rowland sold the company in 1998 to Mattel (MAT) for $770 million. Mattel then turned up the entertainment wattage, transforming the American Girl brand into a multimedia and multi-channel franchise with feature films and retail stores (where girls stand on line for three hours to get their doll’s hair styled for $20).

I expect that sometime this holiday weekend my daughter and I will be among the legions going to see the new Kit Kittredge film starring Oscar-nominated actress Abigail Breslin. It’s the third title to star an American Girl doll character, but the first to open as a theatrical release.

The American Girl thing in our house started innocently enough. My daughter’s first doll arrived for Christmas in her 6th year. She wasn’t into the history and reading angle. She wanted a doll with good hair that would resemble her and she named it Mini-Me.

Later that winter, we spent a three-day weekend in Chicago and used a day of it visiting the very first American Girl Place store where we saw a musical revue and enjoyed high tea with Mini-Me, clamped tableside in a special seat.

The following Christmas Samantha came on the scene at my house, while over at her dad’s every possible piece of Samantha’s furniture (or so it seemed to me) landed under the tree. He kicked in a child's size nightgown so our daughter could sleep in attire matching that of her new doll.

The next year my daughter saved her own money to buy the limited edition “Girl of the Year” Marisol, who was born to dance. These dolls -- and their accompanying books -- explore what it means to be an American girl today and, short of eBay (EBAY), are only available the year they're released.

Next, grandma got into the game, asking my daughter to pick which items she'd like from the American Girl catalog and then buying all of them. (Thanks, grandma. We really needed that doll-sized piano keyboard with the detachable legs.)

The final addition to our home’s American Girl doll collection was Kit, who just happens to be the star of the new film. My daughter paid for that one with her own money, too.

So what are the advantages to having four American Girl dolls under one roof? For starters, whenever a group of girls arrive at the house each visitor has a doll to select from. My daughter doesn’t grow tired of her “girls.” When she’s not so into one, she focuses on another. People always have a gift option.

American Girl is now growing with my daughter, whose favorite book remains the one about how her body is changing. Meanwhile, I encourage her to read the one about money smarts.

But not until I’ve finished it.

Come on, fess up: How many American Girl products are in your household? Weigh in on The Exchange.