The world of Barbie
After a long break from blogging, I’m back!
My two-year-old daughter was given three princess Barbie dolls from friends and family this Christmas season. My husband and I had decided to wait a bit longer before buying Barbie’s for her despite her many requests for an Ariel Barbie. We aren’t opposed to Barbie’s and certainly don’t mind that others gave them to her, it’s just that we had already bought her so much and thought she may be better able to play with them in a year or so. Much to my surprise she “pretends’ with them quite well for her age and developmental stage. She still needs me to play with her as she can’t manipulate changing their clothes by herself but I don’t mind. I had quite a large collection of Barbie’s when I was a young girl and enjoyed them for many years! However, the shape of Barbie has changed some since my Barbie’s 25 years ago.
Two of the Barbie’s Little Belle was given as gifts are bath Barbie’s and have plastic bathing suits permanently made on so they can “swim” in the tub. However, her Ariel Barbie isn’t a tub Barbie. Little Belle wanted Ariel to “swim” in the tub with the other two princesses and since we were visiting my mom I shuffled through my large collection of dolls and clothes to find an old bathing suit for her. I just couldn’t bear to put naked Ariel in the tub. I don’t know why, but it bothered me. While putting on the swim suit I discovered that Mattel has made a distinct change in the anatomy of Barbie. The new Barbie’s waist is much wider and her bust is much smaller than my Barbie’s from the 1980’s. The bathing suit was tight in the waist and awkwardly big in the bust. I’m very pleased with this change. Don’t get me wrong, Barbie is still a bit to “perfect” to be a “real” woman but they are making progress.