Ghee Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Thoughts? Why do you do Barbie/princesses or why don't you? We Barbie. I was a HUGE Barbie girl growing up (in the 80's), and DD enjoys messing with them occasionally. She doesn't play with them as much as I did, but neither do her friends - I think having Barbie crazed friends made it easier for me to play. We also do Monster High, because I'm a big paranormal nerd. I don't do Liv Dolls (because the changing hair thing sort of wigs me out - pun intended :D) and I don't like Moxie Girls because they have feet that COME OFF!!! Bratz are kind of ... skanky, IMO. I don't think I got a bad body image from playing with Barbie. They're dolls, they don't whisper things in your ear. My Barbies were housewives, teachers, nurses. They got married, got pregnant (thanks to some cotton ball padding), had babies, drove cars and got in trouble for painting the inside of their Dream House with purple nailpolish (oh, whoops, that was ME! LOL The only destructive thing I ever did, but I went BIG!) Again, I just think they are dolls, it's what you DO with the doll that may cause issues. I don't know any of my friends who thought we were supposed to look like Barbie when we grew up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 We don't do barbie at all. No princess dolls and I'm not a fan of most of their movies. Has anyone else noticed how some of the movies, particularly newer ones, encourage parental disobedience?? We do have some books we read. She has a couple notebooks (for drawing etc) that have princesses on the cover that we picked up at the dollar store. From a young age I have talked with my oldest dd about why we don't so she understands. It truly is not an issue. To satisfy her need for "girly" stuff (she is sooo unlike me, lol), I have lots of dress up clothes (reminds me I need to sew some more), make jewlery, she still likes to read fancy nancy, design purses, design "keepsake boxes" with stick on jewels, etc. So girly stuff can be satisfied WITHOUT barbie, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusksAngel Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 My girls have my Barbies that I got when I was a girl. They really enjoy playing with them and then leaving them around the house naked. :glare: They also have my old cabbage patch dolls when they finally show an interest in them. I feel as long as you treat them as just a toy, that's what they'll be. I want some of the Monster High dolls because I love paranormal stuff. I love my Living Dead Dolls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butterflymommy Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I was anti-barbie until a neighbor gave us one as a gift many years ago. DD was so enchanted and all the other girls have been enchanted since. So we do have quite a few barbies in the house. I draw the line at the barbie "stuff" like cars, houses, etc., mainly for cost reasons. It really hasn't been a big deal. A couple of the barbie movies are ok, the nutcracker one is nice and the 12 dancing princesses. Island Princess is awful. Yes I have noticed that most kids' shows portray parental disobedience, maybe it's just an easy plot mechanism. I also don't like plot lines where the girls act macho and warrior like, because it seems to send the message that if you're "girly" you're pathetic. It's ok to be feminine. But i don't really filter what my kids read or watch as long as it's PG or under. For books they can read whatever they want as long as it doesn't have graphic sex descriptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristyB in TN Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I feel you pain. I was anti Barbie and anti guns until my son chewed his sandwich into the shape of a gun and shot me and someone gave my daughter a Brittany Spears Barbie for her birthday. I just decided not to die on that hill. ;) I dealt with Barbie by not banning them or speaking harshly of the realities of being such a ridiculous model for young girls, etc, etc, blah blah blah... I just became pretty honest about it. "She sure does have an odd figure. Good thing she's not a real person or she couldn't stand up!" Happily, I still raised a feminist daughter in a Barbie/princess world. I think there's room for both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiebird Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I loved barbies and would have loved princesses if they were a big deal when I was a kid. I am not a girly girl type either; mine were friends with my my little ponies and care bears and my sister and I had elaborate adventures. I also learned to sew because of my Barbies because I wanted her to be dressed better and made her a gown :lol:. We always got the cheaper Barbie's that only came in their Bikinis and they needed some clothes ASAP! I notice even now that you have to put up the $$$ if you want Barbie to come in full clothing. The cheaper ones that are still Barbie brand are still underdressed! My boys have used Barbies in their army to make it bigger though I bet they would have a cow if they knew I was mentioning that on the internet. I also love the 18" dolls too, whether they are princesses or American girl knock offs. (I'm not anti-American Girl, just lacking the $$ and not seeing the point if there are cheaper versions.) Honestly, I want to go out and buy the DIsney animator's collection of the princesses myself. They are adorable! Wow, this was a bit rambly, but you get the point. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I feel you pain. I was anti Barbie and anti guns until my son chewed his sandwich into the shape of a gun and shot me :smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlight Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 i have 3 boys, so i don't really know what i'm talking about... but i have a friend who buys her daughter moxie girls because they look like girls and have girly bodies, rather than womanly ones..i've seen them and they look cute. i remember wanting to have a barbie body as a teenager. i had this image that it was ideal...i think that during my teenage years and into college, i might even have had that body, but never realized it...i have a barbie body now too! i figure if i keep telling myself that, the last 15 lbs will disappear somehow...:D in reality, if i lose the 15 lbs. i will be happy with my body, but i won't look anything like barbie and i don't want to. i've had babies, nursed, etc. i have dark, short hair that works for ME! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acorn Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 My dd thinks this anyway. It makes me sad. She thinks she isn't pretty because she doesn't have blonde hair. She used to draw pictures of herself with long blonde hair and her blonde IRL friend with brown hair. She's getting a little better. She now draws pictures of herself with brown hair. And she says she no longer wants to marry the blonde boy she used to want to. She now says she wants to marry a brown-haired boy because he looks like her. She tends to identify people by their hair color. I wonder why little dark-haired girls do that. I used to long for blonde hair when I was little, too. It took me awhile to embrace my dark hair. Our introduction to the blonde vs. brown hair came from Laura Ingalls Wilder. Obviously the benefits of the series outweigh Laura's complaints about her hair but it is making me cringe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I feel you pain. I was anti Barbie and anti guns until my son chewed his sandwich into the shape of a gun and shot me :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Where there's a will, there's a way! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justLisa Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 These stories are hilarious. I remember when I bought dd this Christmas collector Barbie last year and she said it would be so cool if my hair looked like that :lol: I'll bet that Russian human Barbie did that to herself because she wasn't allowed to have one :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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