Dear Amy: My son and daughter-in-law will not allow my granddaughter to have Barbie or princess dolls because they believe these dolls would have a negative effect on her body image.
Is this a valid concern? I respect the parents’ wishes, but I feel as if my granddaughter is missing out.
– Curious Grandmother
Dear Grandmother: I’m not sure what princess-themed dolls have to do with negative body image, though they may introduce several other troubling concepts to girls. For instance, everybody knows that your ball gown is always stuck at the dry cleaners when you really need it.
And don’t get me started on the whole “one day your prince will come” idea.
Barbie is another story, of course. With her Barbarella proportions, if Barbie were an actual woman, she would be a 10-foot-tall monster whose permanently pointed toes and spindly lower body could never support her ample bosom.
If a little girl didn’t have Barbie in her life, what exactly would she be missing out on? Not much.
Dolls give girls and boys the opportunity to engage in imaginative play, but stuffed animals (or other dolls) can (and do) provide the same opportunities. It is the parents’ right to choose toys for their kids, and thoughtful parents are careful about the messages these toys convey to their children – whether these toys are Barbies or bazookas. In my own family, I chose to explain, educate and occasionally roll my eyes at Barbie, rather than forbid her from the house, but I respect parents’ choice to be discriminating about what toys they provide for their children, and you should too.
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