What do you think of Barbie? Would you let your children play with Barbies?

[monica9]

Yes. My girls played/play with Barbie dolls.

 

[elaine amj]

I loved my Barbies and am still mad my mother made me give them away when I was 13/14 lol!

My DD didn't care much for Barbies or dollhouses. I was so sad when I realized there was no point blowing a bunch of money on a huge fancy dollhouse for DD. She was into Littlest pet shops so that's what I got for her.

I was so glad she had zero interest in those Monster High dolls. I did not like them at all! But my DD has always been more conservative than me, even as a little girl.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We have a few Barbie dolls in my preschool room, mostly donated by parents whose kids outgrew them. Some of our kids love them, some don't play with them. We had one little girl, in particular, last year who played with a Barbie everyday. She would dress her up and pose her in the dollhouse or on a shelf or table. Sometimes she had Barbie lounging in front of the TV. A few times she was sitting on the play toilet! She would also put her in the kitchen with the play food. Then she would go off and play with something else. This student had very little functional language and was reluctant to use the few words she had. We used Barbie as a teaching tool with her. At clean up time, we would have her come and tell us what Barbie was doing that day before putting her away. At first she resisted talking about it, but she came to expect and actually seem to enjoy our conversations about Barbie. Something about the toy sparked her interest, so we went with it!

 

[Sweetpancake]

I loved playing with my barbies when I was growing up and dressing them up in all of their stylish outfits. Most of what they wore was skin tight and short. I can assure you that I don't dress this way as an adult,lol Nor have I ever. I think Barbie is completely harmless, there's far bigger influences in a child's life than an anatomically incorrect doll.

 

[DisneyOma]

Barbie has been banned from my house since before my kids were even born. There was a Barbie that was released that said “math is hard”. As a math teacher, I refuse to have that in my home.

But you were wrong - I hope you banned the Simpsons from your house! (see below) Also, just out of curiosity do you ban other things because of urban myths?

Technically she said "Math class is tough"...IIRC it was Lisa Simpson's Malibu Stacy doll on an episode of The Simpsons who said "Math is hard". I agree with both dolls LOL.

There's nothing wrong with admitting that something is tough, BTW. Of course, I had girls who find math to be really, really easy, and they are okay with it being hard for some people. We all have things we like, dislike, find easy, find hard. It's what makes us unique. I tell my special education students that while I might find the high school curriculum to be easy (including math) I have a really hard time giving directions to get someplace, and I'm also a horrible cook. I once made oatmeal cookies and forgot to add the oatmeal. I'm also horrible at typing. I've corrected multiple typos in this post already. But they marvel that I can write upside down on their papers.

So if anyone has a doll that says "Math is Hard" why not have a good conversation with the child who will play with that doll. Come up with some scenarios, maybe one day they'll have a school friend who says math is hard, and they'll know how to react to that child, and maybe even help that child out.

 

[scrhsa]

The only thing I remember about Barbie is my older sister taking my favorite Barbie, who had floor-length hair, and giving her a buzz cut. She then took apart a Bic pen and unsuccessfully tried to dye its hair with the blue ink.

My sister bit the toes off my Barbie. I believe I may still have a bit of resentment....bahahaha

 

[scrhsa]

I loved my Barbies and am still mad my mother made me give them away when I was 13/14 lol!

My DD didn't care much for Barbies or dollhouses. I was so sad when I realized there was no point blowing a bunch of money on a huge fancy dollhouse for DD. She was into Littlest pet shops so that's what I got for her.

I was so glad she had zero interest in those Monster High dolls. I did not like them at all! But my DD has always been more conservative than me, even as a little girl.

I'm glad I missed the Monster High Dolls too. My girls would have LOVED them. The always liked things being a bit different. And now my youngest (almost 21) buys them to repaint them. She re-roots their hair and everything. She's quite talented. My girls were in to the Bratz. Oh, how I hated Bratz!!!

 

[ronandannette]

I adored Barbie and her friends, especially Midge and Francie. I only wish in my era (‘60s and ‘70s), it had been “ok” for boys to play with them . I do have the complete collection of Mattel I Love Lucy dolls, never out of the box.

I felt the same way about Lego. I never had a single piece as my parents considered it "boys" toys. I had a heyday with them and all the other things my boy-cousins played with when we were all together at Grandma's.

Our DS is an only child and it never occurred to us to provide him with Barbies, but he loved playing with them whenever we visited a household with girls. It was mostly the little accessories he found fascinating; he had tons of action figures that he played with non-stop but none of them came with shoes or purses.

At some point he did get at least one Barbie (chose it for himself on a Toys-R-Us run). He played with it in the same manner he played with his action figures; it ended up being just another soldier, or spaceman or whatever. I don't recall him ever differentiating that Barbie was a girl and therefore needed a different role in the games.

 

[Mermaid02]

I have nothing against Barbie.

 

[Brett Wyman]

There was a Barbie that was released that said “math is hard”.

I mean she's not wrong.

 

[jackilvsmath]

But you were wrong - I hope you banned the Simpsons from your house! (see below) Also, just out of curiosity do you ban other things because of urban myths?

There actually was a Barbie that says that. I was not referencing the Simpsons episode.

 

[mamamary]

I played a lot with Barbies. Loved all the clothes, house, etc. My daughter wanted nothing to do with Barbies. Her thing was stuffed animals for years and Webkinz (remember that craze?). Just last week it was my twin neice’s Bday party and they wanted Barbies. I got them each 3 dolls and a bunch of clothes - I did find the selection of clothes to be disappointing. Barbies and clothes were much cheaper in price than I thought it would be. Oh and one Barbie was a doctor and another a nurse.

 

[jackilvsmath]

Technically she said "Math class is tough"...IIRC it was Lisa Simpson's Malibu Stacy doll on an episode of The Simpsons who said "Math is hard". I agree with both dolls LOL.

It was also on the Simpson’s but there was Teen Talk Barbie who said that — Mattel removed that comment from her microchip after backlash. They removed the comment very quickly after release. The Simpson’s episode cane after the actual Barbie.

 

[MIGrandma]

I loved my Barbies! I had a few different Barbies, plus Ken, Midge, Skipper, Skooter and Christie. Had a small house for them with plastic and handmade furniture, lots and lots of clothes and accessories, etc. I started playing with them when I was 5. I had a great Aunt that lived in Chicago and every autumn she came to stay with my grandparents (she had been married to my Grandma's brother, he passed away but she still kept in touch with my grandparents) and she brought me a whole new wardrobe for my dolls. Every autumn. The one Barbie dress I still treasure was one she made out of one of my great Uncle's handkerchiefs. So special.

I was still enjoying playing with them when I turned 14 and entered high school. I played with them by myself, and often with other friends and they would bring their dolls too. But I reluctantly thought I was "too old" for them as I entered high school so I packed them away.

I still have them upstairs in a closet. Our DD didn't express much interest in Barbie dolls, and neither of our granddaughters did either, sadly. I would have loved playing Barbies with them.

I really don't get why anyone would think children shouldn't play with them. I can think of way worse toys that are out these days.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Her thing was stuffed animals for years and Webkinz (remember that craze?).

Oh my gosh - that fad went through our neighborhood like crazy!

I had a couple of Barbies when I was a kid, and enjoyed the outfits my mom and aunt would make. But like your DD, I probably played with stuffed animals more than dolls.

We tried not to stereotype toys (I'm so sorry about the Lego restrictions, @ronandannette! - My brother and I both loved those.) but my DS never happened to ask for Barbies, so I don't think we had any.

My honorary niece has a few - mostly Disney Princess and mermaid ones, I think?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Oh look. It's Thai brothel Barbie. I'm running out and getting one for my daughter right now.

 

[RangerPooh]

I played with Barbies in the 80s/early 90s. My daughters inherited mine. They had their own but preferred Monster High and Ever After High. Barbie can be whatever you make of her.

 

[Magical2017]

Yes, I would let my sons (or daughters, if I had any) play with Barbies or any other toy. My sons had multi racial dolls when they were little. They chose to launch them like cannon balls.

 

[Sabeking]

My girls played with Barbie’s but really loved Polly Pockets. I had a love/hate relationship with Polly Pockets! They could bring them in the bath and were extremely portable BUT the accessories went down the drain, in the vacuum, between car seats...drove me nuts!

 

[AppleDumpling]

Never had Barbies, as a child or a mom. My sisters and I had a competitor’s doll named Tammy, back in the late 60’s. I wasn’t really into her much or for long; I preferred Chrissy and Velvet, who were bigger and had hair that grew long. I have no daughters; my DS played a lot with Rescue Heroes, which were very popular when he was young.

I have no issues with Barbie for any child who likes/wants them, except I always thought the overdone hot pink section in ToysRUs was kind of annoying. (Does everything for girls have to be pink?!)