here is an Interesting Read "barbie"

[LightingElectricDream]

http://barbarafalconernewhall.com/2009/03/02/dolls-and-daughters/



I never really grew up with liking Barbie Much at all. My brothers thought it was lame and we would have rather have had hotweels when we got to pick out a toy from the store. I was born in 1991 and from the time I was 2 I remember my uncle bringing me a barbie for my birthday, I slightly palyed with it..but it just wasn't my thing. I think it stamed from the same uncle and aunt that bought me a talking baby doll for my 2nd or 3rd Christmas, Needless to say it terrified me into hating all baby dolls esept for my pufalump baby doll. As I got older and older I HATED Barbie, Prob because I played with mostly boys. and yet people alwase bought them for me so I got a heaping lot of barbies that I really hated. I did finally donate them and way I happy to get them out of my toy box.

So to this day yes I have my own opinions about Barbie, But as a vintage collector I am really respecting the 70's, 80's, 90's barbie trends. But I won't collect them.

And the stereotype of just because you are a girl you should have and like barbie is a stupid mind set. Not bashing barbie at all, but not all girls like pink and fashion dolls..

[moving to dollhouse -kkat]

[StoryDreamer]

I wasn't a girlie girlie, but I remember I got a few sleepover Barbie friends, the BSC dolls and a Barbie beauty shop thing, and I played for HOURS with that thing. Barbie wasn't "Barbie" she was a teacher, a doctor, a horsewoman, a mother, a hero, etc.  I love Barbie just like I loved ponies. They were fun to play with, and they were part of my imaginary games.

I do think that our children are having a harder time with imagination if they're thrust in front of screens at a very young age.

[LightingElectricDream]

I wasn't a girlie girlie, but I remember I got a few sleepover Barbie friends, the BSC dolls and a Barbie beauty shop thing, and I played for HOURS with that thing. Barbie wasn't "Barbie" she was a teacher, a doctor, a horsewoman, a mother, a hero, etc.  I love Barbie just like I loved ponies. They were fun to play with, and they were part of my imaginary games.

I do think that our children are having a harder time with imagination if they're thrust in front of screens at a very young age.

Yeah I do think the electronics do kill the imaginary skills.
Ans toys are so fun, its too bad when you give a some kids a simple toy and they ask
"What dose it do?"

[Eviecorn]

Interesting article.  We see Barbie as sexist on so many occasions but we forget that it's also about the imagination of the kid playing.  That Barbie may not be all about boys and fashion to the girl playing with it; she could be playing hospital and Barbie is the lead surgeon.  I mean, yes, the marketing is purely geared towards one area, but it's all also in how we raise our own children to think and feel about themselves.

[melodys_angel]

Everyone is different, but yes, I ended up getting Barbie dolls as a kid more often then not.

I liked the pretty dresses and I did play with them (lightly) but I was more of a tomboy and loved crafting over playing with dolls.

remember, in the 80s and 90s, Barbie was about being what YOU want to be, and making it possible.  If you want to be an astronaut, you can be one.  If you want to be a doctor, go for it.   It wasn't just about being in a ball gown and playing princess

[Rosencrantz]

My barbies were superheroes. Ah, good times.

[butterflybuttons]

I never really wanted barbie dolls when I was a child, I had hand me downs from my much older sisters.

I still played with them, and my cousin and I used to make them clothes and costumes.

Honestly, I would have never noticed her body shape was unusual, had it not been for my aunt pointing it out that she had a tiny waist and huge breasts.

[brightberry]

My sister had all the barbies.  We traded our toys often and she ended up with barbies and I wound up with barbie's horses and mlp.   Even on our birthdays, if we got a present the other coveted, we'd hand it over on the spot.

But we did play barbie together.  They'd get piled into a toy mini-van and travel to new and mysterious worlds.  My sister loved star-trek and so most often, there were aliens (teddy-bears) waiting for us.  She didn't like actual star trek action figures because they weren't pretty and were mostly men anyway. 

But...  I don't think playing with barbie automatically means that girls are obsessing about boys.  That isn't what barbie meant to us anyway.  Barbie looked pretty because feeling pretty is a nice feeling.  It really had nothing to do with attracting boys and it creeps me out that people think that just because a girl wants to look cute, she's on the prowl.   

[butterflybuttons]

  Barbie looked pretty because feeling pretty is a nice feeling.  It really had nothing to do with attracting boys and it creeps me out that people think that just because a girl wants to look cute, she's on the prowl.   

This exactly!! Well said.

[tulagirl]

I got 4 Barbies as a child.  I picked one out myself for a birthday gift, a Skipper as a birthday gift later and the others were given to me.  I didn't know how I felt about fashion dolls. I loved tiny things and was very much in love with Liddle Kiddles and my Sunshine Family baby doll.  (I know I am dating myself here.)  I found that I had more fun with my 4 inch dolls than the 12 inch Barbie.  It was mother that ruined Barbie for me.  She had warned me to pick them up off of the floor one day and apparently at age 6-8 one with ADD has a little trouble with focus.  I didn't get them up off of the floor.  So, mom picked them up, along with my shoes I had left out.  Took me into the kitchen and threw them and my shoes in the trash.  I was in tears and felt so betrayed by her.  I couldn't understand her logic.  I never saw the dolls again even though she claims she never truly threw them out.  Whatever she was trying to teach me that day it didn't do me any good.  This was what it was like dealing with mom.  I also learned though that she was somewhat cruel, manipulated me and expected me to somehow grow up well intact emotionally. Lovely isn't it?
About 5 years ago I bought back the one Barbie I did remember having that I missed.  Miss America Walking Lively I think she was called.  She rests in my cabinet with her Brunette version as well.  For me the memory of losing the others is vivid in my mind, but not the Miss America.

So, I think people make an awful lot out of nothing.  I have no intention of looking at toys as more than they are-playthings.  So what if they are slender with big boobs.   Who cares.  To be perfectly honest, I never noticed the boobs as a child. I never cared about Ken and didn't even know he existed.  So what if they have blonde hair and earrings.  I do not believe that a toy has the power to destroy a child, but a parent sure can.

[toyjunky]

"I do think that our children are having a harder time with imagination if they're thrust in front of screens at a very young age."

This is a very real statement that is affecting both genders of children. I won't say which relative of mine did this, but I went to babysit his kids one day and the 3 year old boy was watching firetruck videos on youtube. And his dad smiles and laughed and said "Child rearing/babysitting is so different nowdays."

To me, the biggest thing that I see with toys and it doesn't' have to be dolls, it can be any toy, is the expectation that children "know how to play". That if you dump a toy out in front of a kid they magically understand how to use it and what can be done with it. "Play" and "Imagination" is something that is learned, taught or observed. A fair amount of adults are just buying their kids toys, opening them, and walking out of the room. The idea that "they get bored" and the solution is a NEW TOY!

In regards to dolls though, I was one of those kids who was never allowed to go to anyone elses house, so I played with my MLP, or my Strawberry Shortcake dolls and later on Barbie and other dolls by myself. I did have a couple playsets though and that may make play more interesting or I also used building blocks or Lincoln Logs to build furniture or castles, houses etc. I will say though, that Barbie back in the 80's is so not the same as she is now. Now everything is bright bright pink and EVERYTHING is pink and glittery. She used to have a wider range of colors for herself, her clothes and her accessories.

Another thing to mention perhaps is that we rarely got new toys. My parents couldn't afford it. So it was maybe on an occasion like Christmas, or a Birthday or occasionally maybe Easter or Valentines Day that we had new toys. So having less toys gives one a few less choices of indoor activities. We did have an Atarii and later Nintendo but my mother was VERY strict about how much time we could watch TV or play video games.

[brightberry]

^ I agree that children have to be shown the fun of toys at first.  They love anything their parents will use to interact with them (at least at first).  The article link annoyed me because the writer expected barbie to be somehow different than any other toy the daughter plays with.  But barbie is just as much an action figure as GI Joe.  You can make her fight fires, go camping, space travel and everything else other toys do.  Kids used to tie hay and sticks together and play with those so... my guess the reason why the little girl didn't play with them is because her parents didn't do anything to encourage her.  That's ok, but to imply there was something wrong with the doll cause its "girly" is annoying.   

[tulagirl]

No one in my life ever taught me how to play with anything unless it was a motor skills toy or function I had not mastered such as swimming, roller skating and the like.

I was taught in college when that a toy should be given to a child without instruction first as this child is to discover what they like about it and what they want to do with it.  Discovery must happen with all children. Its the basis of their learning.  All 5 senses must be involved and they should do this on their own with age appropriate materials.  This is imagination at its earliest stage.  A child needs to think, experience cause and effect and I feel they should do this with groups of children rather than one adult showing them everything to do. JMHO  Children are biologically wired to play and discover when given appropriate materials for their age, interest and skills to do so. As long as we don't over buy toys kids can think and imagine well.  Too much just creates chaos which doesn't foster learning.

Its my thought that one of two things happens with Barbie. The parents give this toy to their child before they are able to cognitively handle the creative thinking required to play with the doll.  And the other thing is that Barbie is often given to children that do not really have an interest in that type of imaginative play.  She certainly isn't for all kids or even all kids that love dolls.  She wasn't my favorite and I has more of an interest being a mom or a teacher to my baby dolls then fashions, fancy sport cars and awesome town homes.  My mind just didn't work that way.  Instead, I made houses out of books for my smaller dolls and played with traditional dollhouses.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/child-development/sensory-play/developing-and-cultivating-skills-through-sensory-play/

[brightberry]

^ While I understand that, children also love to play with their parents and while not having an interest in something is fair, teaching children to appreciate new and different things through example isn't harmful either as long as they're still having fun.

I am in no way trying to tell parents that they are depriving their child of something great without barbie.  But barbie is only what you make of her.  Just like any other toy.  She doesn't have to be regulated to just being all about make-up, clothes and tea-parties.  The author obviously doesn't care for barbie and is proud her daughter doesn't play with the doll which is going to have an influence from the start.  They sat down together to play and the mother didn't try to engage the child's imagination and let things become awkward.  Barbie experiment failed. 

Creative
“Sensory experiences,” explains Angie Dorrell, “provide open-ended opportunities where the process is more important than the product; how children use materials is much more important than what they make with them.” Prompting your child to think creatively in order to solve problems or engage in make-believe helps them express their creativity and build self-esteem.

It's ok.  Barbie isn't the beginning and ending of creative play.  But she is still a toy just like any other toy.  The rest is up to the imagination.

[tulagirl]

Yes, that engaging is excellent when in the form of open ended questions where the child begins their own imaginative play rather than someone showing them how to play.  I think that there are just so many Barbie haters and they have been around since she made her debut.  The whole thing is just silly to me any way. LOL

Post Merge: July 23, 2013, 10:36:17 AM

Oh and I was going to share that my favorite imaginative play with children has always been when they get me involved, but tell me what they want for my roll to be.  I taught children for many years and usually in the dramatic play area I would put materials out that fit our theme and visit the center when several children were exploring those items.  We would talk about them and within minutes they would have me in a roll.  Most often I am the one that is the customer and they tell me exactly what to do. Its so much fun to see their minds at work.  It would not have been as good if I went in there and said, "let me show you what a customer does and a checker does and you do that."  I usually ask them, "what does the mail carrier do?"  Once they discuss their ideas, I would ask them how they could play post office. They can do this on their own with some good questions. I just love children.  They are so much fun.