Anyway, one thing that happens when you are getting rid of lots of stuff is that you have to make eight million little tiny decisions per box that you fill. I've been watching Hoarders on netflix lately (partly for motivation), and I admit, I empathize with them to some extent. It is hard to decide if you might need something later. Okay, well it's hard to decide if you might need toys or household items later. I don't find it so hard to decide if I will need rusted out cars or rotting food later.
Which brings me to today's dilemma: the Bag O' Barbies.
A kind colleague at work who was moving overseas 'gifted' me with a gigantic garbage bag of used Barbies. There are maybe 50 of them in there. They have sat in our front hall closet since we received them. My dilemma with the Barbies is as follows:
- Barbies are evil, anti-feminist toys of the patriarchy.
- My 5 yo loves Barbies
- She doesn't even know about these ones yet.
- We are likely to be COMPLETELY broke this Christmas and those Barbies could come in handy.
- Heck, these Barbies could keep her believing in Santa for one more year.
- Santa is an evil tool of consumerist society. Hmm.
- They aren't exactly nice new Barbies, they are well-loved, and the bag is full of tiny pieces of Barbie crap: shoes, jewelry, crowns and something that looks like a garter but I think is actually a bridle for a horse.
2 comments:
I'm going to out myself, my 7 year old daughter has Barbies. Like a million of them. Some new, some used, it's the one toy (or group thereof) she's played with consistently over the years. I talk with the girls a lot about how all ppl look different, there are different kinds of beauty, what you see on TV isn't real, and we talk about how the clothes that Barbie wears aren't approrpriate for real life (and when the girls see a person dressed IRL in 'inapprorpriate' clothing, they are quick to point it out). I've watched them play, they role-play, they're going to the mall with their friends, or going to the prom, or whatever. I never had Barbies, always pined for them as a kid, so I'm happy to indulge my daughter in her Barbie love (hey, she's playing, she's not stuck to the TV!). You have them, your girl likes them, use them as a tool to open a discussion about what bothers you about Barbie. Honestly, they're not the anti-Christ. I do, however, draw the line at Bratz.
Simplistic, but annoyingly true: they grow out of it. My daughter was done with Barbies before she was six. My son was done at two, which is when he told me his Barbie was a "whacking machine." :-D
Case in point: your lovely wife and I used to play with Barbies for hours in her mother's house. No harm done. I think...
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