What I Would do to Barbies

Julia's post yesterday took me on a trip down memory lane. For me, when I think of childhood games,  the main thing that comes to mind is the hours and hours Julia and I spent in the basement playing barbies. Seriously, mom and dad could never get us out of bed for school, but on the weekends? We were up at 6 am to play with our barbies and only came up for meals. It was so much fun!

However, if I were a small child now, I would not choose to play with barbies. Why, you ask? Because they're terrible now! The barbies all look so fake (seriously, their eyes are like half of their faces and the amount of "make-up" they have on make them look like drag queens) and seem to be very poorly made. I have an inkling that they would fall apart within seconds. Of course, our barbies fell apart, but usually because of things like throwing them over the banister when we got into an argument. Otherwise, they fell apart of years and years of use (I'll never forget that time we put a barbie in a chair and her legs fell off). The last one I think I ever got had his legs fell off just from taking off of his pants. Clearly, there is a manufacturing problem. So, this is what I would do to Barbies:

1. Make them like they were when I was young. God, that makes me sound so old! But, seriously. I would make them look a little bit more natural in terms of make up and facial proportions.

2. Make them virtually indestructible. It's no fun when they fall to pieces. Many a tear has been shed over a poorly made barbie in my house.

3. I'd provide more variety in terms of body proportions and race. I personally think that what people say about barbies destroying children's body image is idiotic (I certainly wasn't thinking about that), but we might as well appease them. In any case, it would provide more casting variety for our games!  Sure, changing clothes would be more difficult, but maybe it would be worth it just to remind everyone that not all people are built exactly the same.

Those are really the main ones. Anyway, it makes me sad that children don't play with barbies anymore, but can you really blame them? They just aren't made very well anymore. Step up your game, barbie people!

-Laura