Barbie World

My daughter has recently taken up playing with her dolls again. In fact, I might say probably for the first time. We've had dolls upon dolls in the house but there hasn't been a strong association with them. I have many stories about dolls and I may just tell them all right here right now...including my human doll experience (that'll keep you reading until the end).

First Doll memory: I was not allowed to have Barbies (plain and simple). I have never sat down and asked my mom the full reasoning. I believe the cost of them was a factor but maybe the womanly body shapes too? My friend Cathy had her fair share so it wasn't like I NEVER played with them...they just weren't in my house. I was able to have the 'short lived' Sunshine Family which upon research sounds like it lasted from 1974-78...that was a real 'winner' I see. No one puts Barbie in the corner!!!! Fast forward to my daughter's life. I decided to continue the 'no Barbie' idea in that I personally would not buy my daughter any. Weeeeellll. Me not buying them did not stop her from having around 20 of her own perky breasted ladies to play with. When Princess was about 4 she would ask me to play Barbies with her. It took every ounce of my will power to agree to such an event BECAUSE, a) I really don't like playing with dolls and b) my daughter was SO BOSSY that she didn't make it a pleasant experience. My thoughts were always..."listen babe, if you want me to spend this 'quality' time with you, you need to give me some positive reinforcement or else I'm outa' here". I think my negativity around playing with her and the dolls was related to deep seeded issues in childhood. When I played Barbies with Cathy she too was bossy and domineering (I remember feeling like a 'second fiddle' a lot with her).

Doll Memory 2: Ever since I was very little my grandmother would buy me the collectible dolls made by Madame Alexander. I had so many beautiful dolls. They were displayed in a glass front shelving unit in my room. When I was between 6-8, I remember having to make a very serious decision every night. We lived in a one story house and my room had a floor level window that you could easily climb into if you wanted. So at night I'd have to decide if I was going to face the window that the ROBBER would enter OR face the CREEPY eyes of my dolls staring at me. It was very stressful...I remember that! My daughter now has the dolls on a bookcase in her room. She has indicated the creep factor as well but says she's ok with them being there. She has recently taken to undressing this collector dolls and playing with them too. As much as I should probably ask her to refrain from doing that...collectibles are a little lost on me...I say play with them because their other option is to be boxed up and put in the attic...either way they'll be mistreated.

Doll Memory 3: When we lived in Iceland, a very influential man (at least to my Dad) came to visit us for dinner. He saw my doll collection and said that he too had a collection of dolls - all of which were clowns. He flew back to the states and shortly after I received a gift from him. He sent me one of his clown dolls to add to my menagerie of dolls. The one problem...the clown doll was Poltergeist creepy and he had an evil laugh that freaked me out. Needless to say, said clown is no longer in my posession (as possessed as it was).

Human doll experience: I think one of my fondest memories of my children as babies was lovingly dressing them (especially into their evening jammies). Currently, my children are fully capable human beings and can easily dress themselves. However, sometimes I humor them and dress them in the morning as they are still snuggling in their beds. This act has varied levels of meaning for me 1) is to let them 'sleep' a little longer while also being ready for the bus. 2) I love to be able to touch their warm and loose bodies 3) I know that they sometimes like to be treated as younger than they are (and I'm cool with that) 4) ONE DAY this activity will be verboten by them (sooner than I'll want) so I'll take any human loving contact I can give them.

I think little girl fascination with dressing and undressing baby dolls is 100% instinctual in terms of training them for their offspring care...at least that is my scientific opinion!