YES, Barbies Can Inspire

Sentiments Toward Barbie

On Valentine’s Day, Barbara gave you an inspiration room inspired by the world of Barbie.  Admittedly not a Barbie lover, Barbara was able to find the value of these popular dolls by admiring the inspiration the dolls provide.  While Barbara’s respect for Barbie might be a bit late in developing, some of us at YES Spaces have a long standing love for our favorite doll.

Sometimes, Girls will be Girls

I, Katie, am one of 3 girls.  When we were very young, our mom was extremely conscious to provide us with gender neutral toys such as classic wood blocks and balls.  Despite her best intentions, when she realized that my sisters and I were far more interested in role playing, building, and problem solving when put in a relational and narrative context, she finally caved and bought some Barbies.  I guess she must have felt a little silly when we were playing “Mommy” to a bunch of blocks…

Barbie Land

As you might imagine, when you multiply multiple Barbies gifted per holiday by three girls, you end up with a massive collection of dolls and accessories.  Despite that, we only had 2 Ken dolls, and my youngest sister always got stuck using a spare Barbie as her doll’s partner.  My sisters and I would spend hours setting up what we dubbed “Barbie land” in our playroom.  Looking back, for us, Barbie land was less about dressing Barbie and more about synthesizing and recreating everyday interactions.  We constantly worked through conflicts with our parents, our friends, and each other by using a couple Barbie’s to replay, and often rewrite events.  Similarly, we also loved to project our aspirations for the future, working through our life goals in a couple hours.  My sisters and I frequently joke about how our youngest sister always wanted to have 25 babies, and although the desired number has drastically reduced, she maintains her love for children to this day.

Barbie as a Positive Role Model

Some people criticize Barbie dolls as promoting superficial, limited roles for women and giving girls negative body image.  Without getting into areas I am unqualified to offer expert opinions, I would like to propose a small doll has limited amounts of power in shaping most young girls’ futures.  As with any toys, Barbies provide an excellent platform for parents to teach their children through play and engage in discussion.   We loved playing Barbie with our mom because she would always come up with the most fun daring adventures that took our Barbie’s everywhere from the doctor’s office, to scuba diving, to college and beyond. Never underestimate the power of play for teaching valuable life lessons and modeling behavior for your child.

Donating Extra Dolls- Share the Love

As a closing note, if you find your daughter’s Barbie land to be getting a little excessive (such as when we had amassed 3 large toy bins (like the dreamy pink upholstered blanket chest from the YES Spaces store) of Barbie dolls, not including vehicles and other accessories), use the opportunity to teach your child the value of donation.  My sisters and I were never thrilled to part with even a single doll, but when our mom explained how excited a girl without any dolls would be to get one of our Barbies, we were proud to help her package some up and take them to Goodwill.  When you involve your child in choosing which toys to share and physically taking them to donation sites, it helps them make valuable connections (and helps clean out the toy bin!).

 

Tagged as: Barbie, Dolls, Role playing