No More Barbies and Other Misconceptions of a First Time Mother

Barbie Dolls, the bane of my existence. A doll whose body wouldn’t be able to stand straight if alive; a doll that is modeled after a German sex symbol. A doll whose body image was far from my own who I believe contributes to the growing body hatred experienced in this country.  

I have always felt that the Barbie Doll was a symbol of women’s inequality. An encouragement of women to be less than real, to be a body rather than a person. And my goal was to keep them away from my daughter. I didn’t want her to be influenced by those ideas. Little did I know at the time, that this wasn’t the point. Now I realize this is her journey; a journey I can’t control. Interestingly enough, as a young child, my mother didn’t let me have things and you know what happened I only wanted them  more, held on to them so hard they started to hurt me. These days my daughter has Barbie Dolls; not many but enough. And the truth is she doesn’t care so much about it. She plays with them or she doesn’t but I have learned to give her space to let her grow. This blog is about taking our cues from our children allowing them to be the person they are growing into and separating our past from their present.