Speaking of "girly" things. I'm browsing doll houses on Amazon and I saw the KidCraft Disney princess one. It looks like it's made to fit Barbie sized dolls. We just got back from Disney and DD is really into the princess thing now. I think this is the one DD will like best and I know my mom is getting her the Anna and Elsa barbie dolls so I like that she would be able to play with them in this house. I know some people are against Barbie dolls though because they might give girls unrealistic expectations regarding body image? My SIL is vehemently against them for that reason and never let her DD play with them. So I'm kind of waffling. Would you buy it?
I mean, I played with Barbies and it didn't scar me for life. I don't really love them, but I figure someone is going to give them to DD and I won't throw them out or anything.
I played with Barbies when I was little and never thought about her body. I think this is something that adults may make into a bigger deal than it is for kids. I think Barbie is good for some pretend play but I wouldn't buy a ton of stuff or anything. tbh, the "princess" concept bothers me more than Barbie. At least she can have a career and isn't waiting for a prince to save her.
I am fine with them. I had them growing up & never felt like I had to try & look like one...lol. My best friend growing up was banned from them, and therefore was obsessed. She'd beg me to sneak her them on sleepovers at her house & always want to play them at mine. It was awkward & annoying. She's also always been super into her looks/body/clothing as an adult. So go figure. Ha!
When the time comes to buy DD a dollhouse, I will make sure to buy one that can fit Barbies.
I love, love, love the new Barbie commercial that shows that girls can be anything (since Barbie is a doctor, and a vet, and a teacher, etc).
Its your job as a parent to teach good self esteem. I roll my eyes hard at anyone who says Barbies cause body issues. Kids don't see that. To them, they're dolls. It's adults who ruin it.
Talking about how fat you are and putting a lot of emphasis on dieting is more damaging to a girls vision of body image than playing with a doll.
I would. I played with barbies a lot growing up and I never looked to them as the image of what a woman should look like though. To me, they were just dolls, with a car, and a big house.
My sister and I would divide up the 3 part barbie dream house so we each got a section and then one had the top floor and one the bottom floor of the middle section and then we loved to set up our house and family witH the barbies we chose. And then we would throw a party. We did this over and over and over again lol.
I don't plan on forbiding barbies in our house. Eta: I also did not and do not have a barbie body. I just never thought about it when I was playing with barbies.
I played with Barbies a ton as a kid, for me it was all about the fashion. Even as an overweight kid, I gave zero thoughts to her shape or figure. I agree with @missy1, kids don't tend to think of these things like adults do. I too have way more issue with the princess stuff than with Barbie. I will let DD play with Barbie when she's old enough. It's way better than the Monster High or Bratz crap. Those are things I will do everything in my power to avoid DD being in to.
I am fine with Barbies (okay, I kind of love them). I loved them as a child and played with them a TON, and I grew up to be a feminist and have really always been quite comfortable with my body.
There was a good CE&P thread about this a while back (I think maybe ijack started it?). I posted in it, and I think some other MMMers did, too. (@kirkette?)
My basic feeling is that Barbie, by virtue of being an adult woman as opposed to a baby doll, lets little girls act out a variety of things they might want to become. My Barbie dream house often became a hospital (filled with hot blonde surgeons with big boobs ) or a college (I used to make them text books out of the little sticky note pads--I distinctly remember asking my mom what the hardest math was when I was 8ish and then making my barbies tiny calculus books). My Barbies put on musicals. Honestly, I think they were possibly the most creative, open ended toy I had.
I do wish their bodies were more realistic. But, honestly, I didn't really notice that as a kid. I just saw Barbie as an adult woman who wasn't a mom and could do anything, which I think was important.
I played with Barbies a ton as a kid, for me it was all about the fashion. Even as an overweight kid, I gave zero thoughts to her shape or figure. I agree with @missy1 , kids don't tend to think of these things like adults do. I too have way more issue with the princess stuff than with Barbie. I will let DD play with Barbie when she's old enough. It's way better than the Monster High or Bratz crap. Those are things I will do everything in my power to avoid DD being in to.
I had a barbie house when I was younger and it's one of my most fondest memories.
DD hasn't really requested one yet but she is more into video games. She does however have a thing for MC2 dolls and it has been the main thing she has asked for Christmas. It's a basically a barbie with a science experiment. There is a show I think on Nick Jr all about science and these fashion girls.
I am not against anything that she has interest in. She can like what she likes. She went through a phase of liking Monster Hall dolls which I just teased her about. Those dolls are just weird.
I feel like I should be against them because of the body image stuff, but I fucking LOVED barbies growing up. We played with them for an embarrassingly long time. (Long enough that we acted out every Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ever made with barbies.)
I'm STOKED for DD to get into them! But ONLY AFTER she can dress them herself. Because fuck that.
Barbie musicals were my favorite! We so could have been besties!
Post by Queen Mamadala on Dec 11, 2015 11:08:12 GMT -5
I loved barbies and baby dolls when I was growing up. I bought some barbies and dolls for my older two when they were younger. No interest whatsoever. They just never got into them at all.
I have no beef with Barbie. They actually have a really touching commercial out right now.
I always wanted a Barbie dream house as a kid but my mom was anal about toys that couldn't be put away. My Barbies had to bang it out with Ken in the backseat of a baby blue '57 Chevy.
Here is the post. It was really eye opening to me to hear from women whose opinions I value and definitely made me rethink my stance. pandce.proboards.com/thread/487746/barbies
I have no beef with Barbie. They actually have a really touching commercial out right now.
I always wanted a Barbie dream house as a kid but my mom was anal about toys that couldn't be put away. My Barbies had to bang it out with Ken in the backseat of a baby blue '57 Chevy.
I had a Barbie dream house. My Barbies still banged Ken in the back of the pink Barbie Corvette. I was an imaginative kid, what can I say
I don't have strong feelings either way. I've bought the girls several Disney princess barbies. I like them better because their boobs are way smaller.
This is really something that I just can't care too much about. I grew up playing with barbies, my girls have barbies (they don't really play with them much, but they have them). They make good imaginary play toys, so I think that outweighs the body image stuff that people are so worried about.
Here is the post. It was really eye opening to me to hear from women whose opinions I value and definitely made me rethink my stance. pandce.proboards.com/thread/487746/barbies
Everyone should watch the new Barbie ad that @kirkette posted halfway down page 3 of that thread (I am an idiot and don't know how to repost it or I would). It totally captures how I felt about Barbies.
Here is the post. It was really eye opening to me to hear from women whose opinions I value and definitely made me rethink my stance. pandce.proboards.com/thread/487746/barbies
Everyone should watch the new Barbie ad that @kirkette posted halfway down page 3 of that thread (I am an idiot and don't know how to repost it or I would). It totally captures how I felt about Barbies.
I love barbies, I played with them for a long time as a kid, and I never thought about body types at that age. I do like that Barbie has a bunch of careers to show girls that they can do anything.
I can't get it up about princesses either. I loved Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast growing up. If a girl likes princesses, she likes them. My parents taught me that I don't need a man to do stuff for me, I didn't get that message from cartoons or dolls.
Everyone should watch the new Barbie ad that @kirkette posted halfway down page 3 of that thread (I am an idiot and don't know how to repost it or I would). It totally captures how I felt about Barbies.
Awww, soooo cute!
I know, and I love Matel (or, rather, their advertising firm) for getting it and making this ad.
I just want to call them and be like, "Look, we know Barbies are awesome. We can agree that they encourage valuable aspirational play. So would you please just make their breasts smaller and their waists bigger so we can move past the damn body image issue and get on with our Barbie musicals?"
I don't see why we can't have a similar doll with all the cool stuff but more human proportions. But since that doll doesn't exist, Barbie is fun and has a lot of cool stuff and creates a space for a lot of great imaginative play.
I liked Barbie a lot as a kid and although I picked up plenty of negative messages about what it means to be fat I can't directly connect any of them to Barbie. Even though that's true for me and for so many in this thread, I hate that she silently perpetuates negative messages about women's bodies. But I don't hate it enough to let it dissuade me from letting my kids play.
I don't want to create a battle over it, but I desperately hope they won't want those stupid Bratz dolls which are a million times worse.
I know, and I love Matel (or, rather, their advertising firm) for getting it and making this ad.
I just want to call them and be like, "Look, we know Barbies are awesome. We can agree that they encourage valuable aspirational play. So would you please just make their breasts smaller and their waists bigger so we can move past the damn body image issue and get on with our Barbie musicals?"
I think they tried a couple of years ago but the "normal" Barbies never caught on.