Barbies. Would you allow them in your house?

[SoupDragon]

IMO, Barbies create an unrealistic body image that is simply unobtainable. I think they cause eating disorders and image problems in young girls and should be banned from sale completely before the female population is turned into unrealistic, plastic people capable only of being Fairytopia Princesses, vets to cute fluffy animals and beards to clearly gay men like Ken.

They should all be rounded up and shot with a toy gun or decapitated with a stuffed axe.

And don't get me started on fairy wnads which hurt a lot if you get whacked on the head with one and create an unrealistic dependance on magic.

absolutely Custy and sure why not? If you can get away with blaming barbie for the anorexia and toy guns and video games for crime and Marilon Manson for everything else then we can all become guilt- free mammys Brilliant

Custy, hope you realise that was my point (which I got to eventually )

my ds quite likes her

At last count we had 14 of the pesky things living with us and all the gubbings that go with them, including a massive train with surreal moving scenery. I will let my ds have a toy gun if he wants when he is old enough - great post by Soupy.

Dd loves Barbie. I don't have a problem with it. She has got a couple of Barbie DVDs too - Swan Lake and Rapunzel and I think they are quite good and the extra features that come with them are excellent.

The Barbie figure doesn't really bother me, any more than a fat hairy teddy bear would do.

I havent reached that stage with dd yet but I would be looking for Asian barbies if need be. DS has a barbie she can have though.

What I do hate is kids dressed up as adults/prostitutes. Let them be kids fgs.

At our YEar 7 disco, we were all shocked at what the 11 year old girls were wearing and how much make up they had!

Actually, I think Barbie has quite a sweet expression on her face, though definitely too much hair. I rather like her! and so does dd.

Ds also has loads of powerrangers but is incredible placid, wouldnt dream of hitting another child.

Held out till dd's 4th birthday upon which occasion we found ourselves the recipient of several Barbies - of course then they have to have somewhere to live (ie pink plastic castle, etc) lots of clothes and accessories.

I just wonder how teenage dolls became playthings for 4 year olds, I didn't have Sindy till I was 8.

Now dd is 8 some girls (eg at our local Brownie pack) think dd is "childish" for still playing with Barbie

just seen your post hercules - YES I agree. so there are no tarty Barbie clothes in our house. She has to be properly dressed.

I also agree about the tarty clothes. Dd's Barbie only has the fairy tale/ princess type clothing.

yes. my sons love their barbie and ken dolls.

yes! and I hate the things!

As for magic, dd believes in fairies and unicorns. In design technology at school her class had to make a vehicle so she made a large van complete with wheels, to "transport fairies and unicorns". The (male) teacher was tickled pink by her powers of imagination gave her A in her report.

Agree lonelymum that the Barbie ballet DVDs are very good. Nutcracker especially.

I didn't think there was any escaping Barbie.

Message withdrawn

God there is no way to escape Barbie! But then again I had a Barbie and am very far from an anorexic Barbie lookalike .

What about Bratz though - they are even weirder - hardly any nose and HUGE heads!! And ridiculously expensive!

My house is sinking under masses of Bratz, Barbies and My Scene dolls - HELP!!!!

Yes, Bratz are loathesome. I am APPALLED by the advertising campaigns that go with these things. You can't pick out any of them as being worse - Barbie, Bratz, pinky horsey broken leggy toys, pinky secret-y locky boxy toys... all of them, a great press gang of nauseous american ice cream girly marketing that quite frankly makes me dread poor DD's prospects in the toy box stakes. They are just so HUGE!

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

Nothing wrong with Barbies - it's all the violent toys for boys that I'm concerned about.

But my dds just WANT Bratz, Barbies (less so now they are 7 and 5 and already passing that stage - wtf??!) and My Scene dolls. They wouldn't play with nice, chastely dressed dolls!! I know, I know I could ban them from the house but they actually play really sweetly with them and I can't see that it does any real harm and I don't want them to stand out as different at school.

I loved my Sindy and later on my Barbie (in the days when you had just the one and dressed her up. We must have 30 dolls and we've chucked some out!!).

They even use them as their main bath toys!! So we get value from them and lots were secondhand!