I'm a Barbie girl

Image via Maisonette

Along with shunning pink, bows and anything frilly when my girls were little, I stayed away from Barbies. To me, Barbies seemed sexist, the anti feminist toy. I wanted to promote Girl Power, not unrealistic body proportions. But in recent years, I've come around to the ubiquitous Mattel dolls, and not because Barbiecore is a trend now.

First off, my daughters - especially my seven year old - love Barbies. They use the dolls in imaginative ways and can stay occupied for long stints of time in "Malibu" or wherever the made up setting of the moment is. I want to say yes to my girls interests and not micromanage their toys too much.

Also, Barbies aren't all bad. Sure, the look isn't exactly realistic. The body image of many of the dolls is still unattainable. But does everything have to be realistic? Other dolls don't necessarily look real. Even so, Mattel has introduced some larger and more diverse Barbies in recent times.

The Barbie motto is "be anything" and there are a variety of Barbie doll hobbies and professions available: gymnast (my girls' favorite), meditation Barbie (my favorite), doctor, singer, vet and so on.

I'm learning we can't censor everything. I can't keep bows or Barbies out of my kids' lives. And that's just fine. There are going to be way bigger fish to fry. My girls are already asking for cell phones... I'll stick with Barbie toy phones for the time being.

AES