Barbies?

[Still_Snarky]

I'll admit it...I LOVED Barbies as a child. Actually...I played with them until I was about 13. : If my cousin's kids are playing with them now I'll still join in.

I had a poor body image as an adolescent (and still do at times) but really don't consciously associate it with Barbies (more with an abusive step-father and the media). I guess I am undecided as to whether Parker will play with them. At this point she's more interested in trucks and Ninja Turtles anyway...

Did you play with them?

Will you let your children play with them?

[AngelBee]

Yes I played with them. So does my daughter. I personally have no problem with them.

[Monkeybutt]

I never played with them. I used to try and play with my kid sister but it was so boring!! I could never do her hair cause her head moved too much, so I'd take the head off and my sister would cry... :LOL I was a tom boy. Playin out in the corn fields was more my thing.

If Bree wanted a barbie I'd get her one. Why not?

[fourgrtkidos]

I only owned one Barbie. She was a ballerina Barbie. I got her after a dance recital. I really did not play with her much. Just left her in her tu-tu and once in a while she got twilled around as if she was dancing. I mostly played outside and since we were in the country we did not have much TV. Occasionally our antenea picked up Sesame Street.

I do NOT let my daughters play with Brat dolls or Barbies. The difference??? They have TV, many TV junkie friends and LOTs of Barbies and Brats in prematurely sexy clothes, marketed in "dating" scenes, etc. If they were merly "fashion dolls" and their were appropriate clothes. I might consider it. My neices have Barbie lingerie? WTF?

I have chosen instead to make my dd s some clothe dolls. They have BABY dolls that they roll play caregiving with and recently my *yo dd got some groovy girls. They have decent teenagerish clothes.

[UUMom]

My Barbies made out with Ken all the time. Neither of of my girls enjoy barbies, so i have not had to deal with this question. There was a time when my middle two children (b/g) had Scuba Kira and Scuba Ken with an orca and dolfin and they played with those for a long time whenever they took a bath. They bought them with Christmas money and picked them out together.

I personally like 'pretty' toys, but I don;t get involved with my children'splay or choice of toys. We have all the nice stuff, blocks, brio, playstands, silks etc, but we also have many tiny plastic neopets who play in the horsebarns. I don't have any concerns with any of the toys my children have choosen to play with. Their play needs are not about me.

[UnschoolnMa]

I enjoyed Barbies as a child, and think they are still fun My daughter had about 10 of them that she recently gave away. She sure got alot of use out of them over the years though. They've been doctors, mamas, teachers, astronauts, fortune tellers, chefs, marine biologists, horror movie casts, etc. They've swam in our kitchen sink turned "spa" :LOL, dived for treasure in the bathtub, and mud wrestled in the mud puddled front lawn. Great fun, IMO.

Dd bought herself two Bratz dolls and she is still enjoying those We have no problem with any of it at all.

[pfamilygal]

I played with them as a child, sort of. We cut the skin off our Barbie to get at her bone cancer. We were so bummed to find she did not have bones. And we cut off her hair because of her chemo. Yeah, I'm a nurse now .

We have a "baby dolls, not Barbie dolls" policy in our house. I want my girls practicing being mommies. I don't like the Barbies' bizarre bodies and overly sexy clothes (same for Bratz dolls).

I'm not outspoken about it. If they play with them at other children's houses, fine. We just don't allow them here. My friends all know our policy, so hopefully they won't get any as gifts. If they did we'd exchange them or give them away.

[Mom4tot]

I played with Barbie's and loved them Growing hair Barbie, Live Action Barbie :LOL and PJ.

Dd has many Barbie's, doctor and dentist Barbie, ballerina's, Barbie's of many nationalities (Japan, Africa, China, England, India...). She likes them and we also have many other dolls....

I have also made dd a Waldorf doll that is beautiful and has lavendar in her belly. Not too many Barbie's have that, do they?

[JayGee]

Barbies were forbidden in my house when I was young. My mom felt they were inappropriate for young girls to play with. Even with no Barbies (or commercial TV, or anything but classical music ), I still have a sucky body image . If my DD wants to play with Barbies, I'll certainly get her one.

[mamawanabe]

My mom didn't let us have barbies. Her explanation of why not was a great introduction to feminism for me. I played with barbies at my friends but remember being kinda proud when I'd explain that my mom didn't let me have them because they are sexist. Don't know why - guess cause it made my family seem smart or something?

Anyway, I'd like to give my kids more autonomy than my mom gave me (autonomy in food and clothing and toy choices ect) though I do find myself partial to the no babie rule . . . .

[Vermillion]

My son likes Barbie. He is very fascinated with them but I am really hesitant to get him one. Not because he is a boy, he has other dolls, but because I am not sure that I want him thinking that is what a woman’s body is supposed to look like.

On the other hand I had tons of Barbies as a kid and I don’t think they affected my body image, but I don’t know… I’m still undecided on the whole Barbie issue, for girls or boys.

[darkstar]

I always said that I would never let dd have barbies. This is one of thoese things that has changed since. I loved barbies when I was young, why deprive her of that. Although I draw the line at barbie...and her barbies were all mine, or from a good friend of mine. SO they are not current. All there clothes are like ball gowns and party dresses. Although she did get 2 farytopia barbies for her birthday. They are cool, II wish I had them as a child

darkstar

[weebitty2]

i owned one barbie - it was my mom's in the 60s. Most of the time it hung from the ceiling fan and was bombarded by GI Joes and my He-Man and She-ra dolls.

[Leilalu]

I had friends who had like every barbie imaginable..but I didn't have oneI also had a friend who had Gem dolls. They were cool because they liked to beat barbie and her friends up after their concert:LOL Don't ask...
I don't know that I want dd playing with barbies. I'll cros that bridge when I come to it I guess. I was always playing with boy stuff anyway.

[Monkeybutt]

I do NOT let my daughters play with Brat dolls or Barbies. The difference??? They have TV, many TV junkie friends and LOTs of Barbies and Brats in prematurely sexy clothes, marketed in "dating" scenes, etc. If they were merly "fashion dolls" and their were appropriate clothes. I might consider it. My neices have Barbie lingerie? WTF?

barbie lingerie!? I had no idea that even existed!! Thats just sad!

[captain crunchy]

I don't believe I would care for my daughter playing with something that was originally a sex toy for men (that is how barbie actually got started, it was a sex doll for grown men in post war Germany) ....so that kind of creeps me out...

Anyway, I do believe they are way overly sexualized, even the outfits are like "wowzers" these days...when I was little we had lots of barbie's and of course under their clothing they were still tan, big breasted, tiny waisted blonds ---but we had like, astronauts and doctors and vets and I am sure you can still find those if you want, but what I see in the stores is like uber slut barbie....know what I mean?

I still haven't decided...at one point I was like (somewhat jokingly) to my family... "no white blond barbies...you find me a black barbie with nappy dreads and I will think about it" type thing...to balance out what I am sure would still be big breasts, tiny waists and *white* features ...*sigh*

I am sure it has some impact on young girls in a negative way, even if they aren't aware of it...

In conclusion, I am not like STAUNCHLY against them in every way, as I had fun with them when I was little, but they do kind of give me a *bad touch* feeling as an adult to think about the sociological implications I am sure they do have on our girls.. and boys for that matter...

[NaomiLorelie]

I did play with barbies. I had the townhome, the convertable, everything. I'm not a big fan of letting my dds play with them, however, I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with it. Tera is VERY girly and at two is already obsessed with princesses. The one time she was around a barbie when I was visiting a friend, she loved it. As it is she only gets to see the princesses,etc when we are out but I know that she will start asking soon. I'm not sure how to deal with this one.

[monkaha]

Blech. I was(am?) a tomboy, never liked barbie. still don't. I have told all the family that I don't like 'em, and so far, DD hasn't really asked for them. But if she really wanted one..... oh, I suppose we'd probably get one or two. (can you really play barbie with just one?!) I'm trying not to forbid them just cuz I personally don't like them. We'll see though.

[mommyto3girls]

I'm not sure what I will do if/when Maia asks for Barbies. I never played with them as a kid, I loved my baby dolls too much, played with them with my cousin until we were 13. Here is a short bit about the Lilli doll, the German "men's doll" that Barbie was based off of. http://www.dollsandtoysaustralia.com/bildlilli.html

[angelpie545]

My sister and I played with Barbies when we were kids. We made little Barbie families for awhile............then my sister cut all the hair off her barbies and I just kinda grew out of them. I personally don't let my own kids play with Barbies simply because I think they present a good image of how a woman should look.........and it's less expensive on my part.