Wednesday, May 09, 2012

My Barbie Dolls Need Counseling

Almost every girl had a Barbie growing up. I was kind of a tomboy when I was really little and preferred playing with rocks and my toy tractors, truck, farm equipment (they were the metal ones that lasted for ever because they never broke). Most pictures of me as a little kid have me covered in dirt and doing something outside. I remember in first grade going to California with my mom to visit her family and seeing a Barbie doll in a night stand at her aunt's house. It was broken (the plastic part in the leg was sticking out at the ankle and you had to slide it back in the "skin" before you could play with her) but they let me have it. I think my grandma may have given me my second and third Barbies.


Some of us had more than one and some even were cool enough to have Ken. I didn't have the car or the house and I think as I came close to growing out of playing with Barbies I finally got a Ken doll. My favorite Barbie was the one that came with her own horse. She had a white sparkle jumpsuit and hat and she had a button in the back that you could push to make one of her eyes close to "wink" at you. Her arms were also bent so she could hold the reins when she was riding. She was the only Barbie that I never cut her hair.


I think a lot of us also cut their hair and maybe like other girls I would make my Barbies have babies (stuffing material up under their shirts to make them look pregnant). I didn't realize until I mentioned in Bible Study a few weeks ago that the other thing I used to do to my Barbies wasn't normal. I used to "borrow" my mom's blue eye shadow and put bruises on my Barbies. They would have a fight with each other and have "bruises." I had a very active imagination. 


Now that you are done laughing. Obviously I didn't play with dolls very much. It made me wonder... what other things did I do as a kid that I thought everyone did? What things did you do and now you realize that it wasn't "normal?"




Maybe I should have mentioned this to my counselor several years ago....


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