Post by lattelady5 on Jan 28, 2016 11:54:45 GMT -5
A lot of DD's friends play with barbies. The kids need some better dolls for their dollhouse. I always said I'd never buy barbies but I just saw mattell introduced a line of "curvy,tall and petite" ones. I've found a lot of her friends play with barbies and dd has an Ariel one she loves. (DS does too) I loved barbies growing up and played with them for an embarrassingly long time. I think I'm going to order some of the new ones.
No girls and my boys have no interest obviously but I would if I had girls. Yes, I played with them growing up (a lot) and have great self esteem and am very independent as are all of my friends/family who also played with Barbies. I think that whole argument is silly.
We've received barbies as a gift. My son loves them and my daughter is pretty indifferent to them. I never give barbies as gifts given the strong feelings people have about them and I might buy some of the new ones to round out our collection because I do think it would be an improvement.
I did play with barbies. I don't think barbie in isolation are a huge concern but they are part of a larger problem with stereotypes in toys and lack of diversity. It isn't a silly argument but one that I don't think many people consider critical. Messages do matter.
Did anyone read that horrible barbie book about computer programming? This is exactly the kind of insidious marketing that concerns me.
I don't plan to introduce them. My girls are 4.5 and 2. They haven't asked for them. I'd rather not buy them but I'll think about it more when/if it comes up.
I played with them as a girl. But I just don't see the point of intrdocing them myself.
We've received barbies as a gift. My son loves them and my daughter is pretty indifferent to them. I never give barbies as gifts given the strong feelings people have about them and I might buy some of the new ones to round out our collection because I do think it would be an improvement.
I did play with barbies. I don't think barbie in isolation are a huge concern but they are part of a larger problem with stereotypes in toys and lack of diversity. It isn't a silly argument but one that I don't think many people consider critical. Messages do matter.
Did anyone read that horrible barbie book about computer programming? This is exactly the kind of insidious marketing that concerns me.
I agree with PP. If Barbie were the only thing then it wouldn't be a big deal. Girls are bombarded with these fucked up images everywhere. So if I can control some of the message that they get, then it's a win.
I loved my Barbies when I was a kid but tbh, I don't see myself buying them for ds or if we have another child. I feel like Barbies were huge in the 80s and that they were great for me as an only child but I realize I did spend a lot of time indoors and wasn't allowed to have much of a social life and I don't see that for ds. We plan to get him started on activities this summer and we are active so prob not on my radar but I'm not super offended by them.
ETA I also agree that for young women, there are just much better toys out there and the history of body image/lack of diversity issues of Barbie can't be ignored completely. But on the other hand, I don't judge if kids have them and enjoy them because as a child, I know I enjoyed them immensely.
I played with Barbies as a kid. They weren't my favorite (I was more of a My Little Pony kind of girl) but I did play with them on occasion with friends.
DD has a few. So far she is not too into them. She much prefers her baby dolls and American Girl dolls.
We have the Barbie sized Disney princess dolls but no barbies. It wasn't on purpose, they never asked, no one ever gave them. I wasn't set out to avoid them exactly, but I'm not unhappy that we have.
Yup, both of my girls love Barbie. My H and I have gotten them some as well as other people. I played with Barbie growing up, too. Barbie and Ken would get it on quite frequently. The Barbies would also receive haircuts and their heads got popped off. I'm not concerned at all with the girls having body issues because of Barbie or any other doll. I'm more concerned with them having issues from the comments grandparents, aunts, and other female friends make (on purpose or not).
Post by mamaalysson on Jan 28, 2016 12:43:45 GMT -5
DD got one as a toddler from a Christmas party gift exchange. She called her her Barbara. That cracked me up. But she never played with it and it left our home during a purge.
She got another from a friend at her last birthday party. I think it's hooker Barbie - seriously. She came with two completely trashy outfits and the most ridiculous looking heels. She still doesn't really play with her, and has not asked for more. i loved Barbie as a kid, and still have all my old dolls and their accessories at my parents' house, if DD gets into them, she can have mine as a starting point. Maybe this makes me sound like an old fuddy duddy, but I truly do not remember Barbie being as trashy when we were girls as she sometimes is now. Maybe my mom filtered what I was getting, and I know a lot of my clothes were homemade - a big reason I learned to sew - but my dolls were pretty conservative and our play consisted of dressing and re-dressing them and acting out different family dynamics or favorite fairy tales.
All that to say, I'm not fundamentally opposed to them, and if DD falls in love with them, we will probably indulge her, with filtering of the more ho-ish dolls.
I played with barbies all the time. Dd does now too. I'm clearly not opposed. Ds plays some too. It's a fantastic imagination game/storytelling...and they fit well in a child's hand (unlike the bigger 18in baby dolls). I'm glad they are varying the sizes and shapes...but that really never occurred to me as a kid. Barbie has always been a great friend, successful, eager to try anything, proud of who she is and I think all those are great things for girls to play.
Edit to add: the true Mattel barbies, not the creepy or slutty off brand ones
Agree that there are barbies that are "trashy" looking, but I try not to make a big fuss about it if they do receive a Barbie I wouldn't normally pick out. We don't ask for Barbie from certain people because of this.
Mine are too young for Barbies, but I'll probably let them play with them. I think Barbies are kind of lame and never really got into them as a kid. She doesn't move easily, it was always so hard to get clothes on her and then I just didn't find much to imagine her doing, aside from trying to jam her into her car or make her kiss the one Derek doll that all of our Barbies were dating.
If I was buying one for DD, I'd definitely go for one with a more realistic body type.
DD got one as a toddler from a Christmas party gift exchange. She called her her Barbara. That cracked me up. But she never played with it and it left our home during a purge.
She got another from a friend at her last birthday party. I think it's hooker Barbie - seriously. She came with two completely trashy outfits and the most ridiculous looking heels. She still doesn't really play with her, and has not asked for more. i loved Barbie as a kid, and still have all my old dolls and their accessories at my parents' house, if DD gets into them, she can have mine as a starting point. Maybe this makes me sound like an old fuddy duddy, but I truly do not remember Barbie being as trashy when we were girls as she sometimes is now. Maybe my mom filtered what I was getting, and I know a lot of my clothes were homemade - a big reason I learned to sew - but my dolls were pretty conservative and our play consisted of dressing and re-dressing them and acting out different family dynamics or favorite fairy tales.
All that to say, I'm not fundamentally opposed to them, and if DD falls in love with them, we will probably indulge her, with filtering of the more ho-ish dolls.
All my Barbies were in full-length dresses, often with long sleeves. My mom sewed us a bunch of outfits for Barbie too! I loved that.
Post by expectantsteelerfan on Jan 28, 2016 13:04:31 GMT -5
DD has several Barbies and disney princess sized dolls. I also gave her a few of my old ones and some of the clothes. I have some clothes that are from when my mom was little, and I showed her them, but I don't let her play with them. DS plays with DD's Barbies at times too, mostly they drive around in the car and go swimming or on other adventures. Honestly, like pretty much all of my kids' toys, they get played with a bunch for a few days and then forgotten about for a long time till someone pull them out again, so I don't worry too much. I do feel like changing their clothes is good fine motor practice for DD, who gets easily frustrated with stuff like that.
Post by Kcthepouchh8r on Jan 28, 2016 14:27:20 GMT -5
Dd asked for one so I got it for her. I got this huge bag of Barbie clothes at a consignment store for like $2. She loves to dress her and play. DS even does occasionally as well. She also got one as a bday present as well. IMO it's kind of silly to ban though I get not buying a million for their third birthday either.
Post by L From The D on Jan 28, 2016 14:52:07 GMT -5
I played with Barbies as a child. DD only has the Anna & Elsa Disney ones. I haven't introduced Barbies because I don't want to deal with all the shoes and accessories around the house, not because I have a fundamental problem with the dolls.
We have the Barbie sized Disney princess dolls but no barbies. It wasn't on purpose, they never asked, no one ever gave them. I wasn't set out to avoid them exactly, but I'm not unhappy that we have.
This is us too. This Christmas my grandparents gave dd a Barbie size doll house. Currently she uses her Disney princesses with it. Someone in her class has been bringing in Barbies for sharing so dd is becoming interested.
Post by expectantsteelerfan on Jan 28, 2016 19:49:14 GMT -5
While I like the idea of different shapes and sizes for Barbie, I don't understand the logistics. ALL the fun of Barbie for me was dressing her, and if the outfits aren't interchangeable then that just doesn't work for me... If they could somehow manage to make the clothes able to fit on all the dolls (i don't care if they don't fit perfectly) then I'm all for the new dolls!
Sad though, I was just at Walmart the other day and they had a clearance table, and on it was a Frozen Anna doll for $2, and a variety of summer Barbies. The white Barbies (with diff. colored hair) were all $5, but the black Barbie was $4. I was annoyed to see that price difference, but happy to buy the cheap black Barbie for dd!
While I like the idea of different shapes and sizes for Barbie, I don't understand the logistics. ALL the fun of Barbie for me was dressing her, and if the outfits aren't interchangeable then that just doesn't work for me... If they could somehow manage to make the clothes able to fit on all the dolls (i don't care if they don't fit perfectly) then I'm all for the new dolls!
I don't think all the fun is just in dressing and undressing her. Most of my barbies ended up naked but I still pretended they were nurses and veterinarians and chefs etc.
I can see how the clothes thing could get annoying but I think incorporating a better variety of dolls is overall a positive thing.
Post by dizzycooks on Jan 28, 2016 20:31:35 GMT -5
Interesting that dd was begging for me to open the second Barbie she got for her bday today. She loves the Elsa Barbie and now has a spinning ballerina Barbie. She adores them! She was making them talk and play and it was adorable. She doesnt do that with her baby dolls. If this type of independent pretend play continues I will definitely buy her another.
I had them as a kid, but didn't play with them as much as I did with my Care Bears or My Little ponies. DD doesn't have any, or desire. She did get a couple Monster High dolls as a gift, but she doesn't play with them, they just sit in a bag.