Barbies have been tradition for years, being one of the longest living toys in America, according to www.honors.umd.edu. As a kid, most of my day was spent creating fantasy stories with my collection and making my little brother join in the fun with me. I would even count down the days to Christmas, not for the presents but for the holiday Barbie that would come out. To a child, everything about Barbie is make-believe and completely innocent, but parents seem to think otherwise. The most common criticism towards Barbies seems to be them being a negative image for young kids, but honestly, there is nothing wrong with a plastic doll they play with to pass the time. Sadly though, we have created the world in which we live in where image is everything. It determines what we are going to wear, what we are going to do, who we talk to throughout the day and in this case, what we allow our children to play with.
Launched in March 1959, Mattel created the first Barbie, using inspiration from German doll Bild Lilli. As said on Wikipedia, a standard Barbie doll is 11.5 inches tall, which comes out to be 5 feet 9 inches on the 1/6 scale. Researchers argue that her body is a bit extreme, saying she is too thin and her waist is too small for an average person and that this is making children self conscious about their own image. Kids never realize this though; they focus on what clothes to put on the doll next. Adults on the other hand focus on all the flaws because that is in their nature. They look way too much into Barbies because they are self conscious themselves. It is not the children who have the problem in this situation, it is the adults.
With all that is in the media today that is available and shown to young kids, are Barbies really that bad compared to all of that? Yes, Barbie might be abnormally shaped and possibly unrealistically proportioned if she was an actual person but this is just a doll everyone is getting upset over. She (unlike many celebrities in the spot light nowadays such as Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen) has never had an eating disorder, or been hospitalized for drug and other problems.
Children are young and don’t put Barbies as real life people. To them, they will always be their favorite toy, not a fashion icon they strive to live like that puts them down every time they play with them. For parents to cause a ruckus over a topic like Barbie is ridiculous. If you are old enough to criticize a plastic toy like Barbie, it may be time you stop playing with them.