S/O Barbies and similiar dolls in your house

[GEM Cloth]

Do you have/allow Barbie and Barbie-type dolls in your house? Thoughts on them? No flaming, just thoughts.

I don't agree with consumerism and don't particularly agree with sexualization, don't like the stupid clothes and shoes in the floor, and I just plain ole don't buy toys for my kids as a general rule. With that said, our kids do have some that others have bought for them and that they have bought for themselves and both of our daughters and our son play with them.

[myfrugalfunlife]

Yep, we allow Barbies My 7yr old loves them. My 5 yr old has no interest in them though so she doesn't have any. I don't have any deep philosophical thoughts on them I just remember how much I enjoyed playing with them as a kid so it wasn't a big deal to me when my dd started showing interest in them.

[SkyeSpade]

I have all boys, so I doubt it will come up, but if One of then wanted a Barbie, I'd be okay with it. I can see the argument for/against, but my friends and I did a lot of great pretend play with them when we were kids. I'd mostly just be thriller they wanted dolls instead of electronics.

Any typos are probably a combination of my phone and poor proofreading!

[umphreysmommy]

I loved Barbie so much growing up and have no body issues are any other issues from that. My daughter is 2 so too young now but she can have as many as she likes when/if she wants them. I won't let her have bratz or other street walking type dolls (or zombies for that matter) but a nice Barbie with respectable clothes ANYTIME!

I did get her a few princess Barbie dolls for like $3 each at kohls, belle, Cinderella and Ariel. She does like those and calls them Barbie but only because her older cousins have some. She doesn't really use them yet.

[AcrossTheUniverse]

I've never bought them but they have gotten them as gifts. I think we have 3-4 lying around the house. I don't mind them. Both the boys and girls play with them. My girls are actually getting into them more and are asking for some sort of house/structure for them. I'd like to make something simple and also make them some clothes (don't particularly like some of the styles of clothes for them I saw in the store).

I loved barbies as a kid and we always created our own house out of a bookshelf with shoe boxes for beds and such. I don't mind if my kids do the same.

[tallanvor]

Barbies or similar are fine. Bratz are not. For one thing, I have an issue with the name, and secondly, they look like hookers to me, so we don't do those. I was never really into dolls when I was a kid, but my sister and I did have a few Barbies and neither of us have ever had an body issues because of them. I think the argument against Barbies has been rather blown out of proportion. If you give your children a wide variety of toys and let them they know they are beautiful how God made them, and are careful all around of what they watch and read, they'll be fine. My girls don't think they need to look like a Barbie or anything. And I have a preteen, so she's at the age to start really thinking about what she looks like. We are careful about what clothes we have for them, though. There are quite a few modest outfits out there for Barbies, so it's really not been difficult to find appropriate clothing.

[sillymama]

Yes to Barbies, no to Bratz. I played with Barbies until I was 13 years old. They have scaled down the unrealistic proportions. My only issues are the clothes. Kind of skimpy for my taste.

[smashncakes]

We pretty much allow all of them but Bratz...I used to think Bratz looked kinda like little hookers (and still do), but DD loves her Monster High dolls and their clothes are pretty skimpy too. The whole having to take off their legs to change their shoes on Bratz dolls kinda weirds me out more than anything. The biggest thing I hate about Barbies is their shoes...just because they hurt like crazy to step on

[Tweedledum]

I'd rather make dolls with my kids than buy them, particularly for fashion purposes, which is the purpose that Bratz & Barbies serve, in contrast to baby dolls which are to teach nurturing behaviors. I object to the sexual objectification of girls that these dolls encourage, as well as the materialism of buy-buy-buy that you get from "needing" the latest outfits, accessories, house, car, horse, etc. But I do know that fashion is an important means of self-expression and identification for many people, so if that aspect of doll-play was important to either of my children, I would encourage it, with home-made dolls and clothes, if possible! And I'd then teach my kids about clothing construction with the dolls as a vehicle for that. I'd sooner whittle a doll out of wood than purchase that Mattel crap.

[z2akids]

My daughter is 6 and this is going to be a Barbie Christmas for her. She has had several for a couple of years and is really into them at the moment. She's getting a couple of Barbies and her big gift will be a Barbie Dreamhouse.

We don't do Bratz or some of the other Barbie style dolls.