1. I used to hate to play outside as a kid. Hated it. Would always prefer to be in my room reading a book.

2. If my mom did kick me out, my friends and I would play Barbie for hours. My friend had the inflatable furniture, and we’d make cars by taping shoe boxes together.

3. My favorite books to read as a child were the Ramona the Pest books, anything else by Beverly Cleary, and everything by Judy Blume. I remember going into the children’s room at the library and scanning the shelves for anything by my favorite authors. That much hasn’t changed.

4. Basketball is my favorite sport to play. I haven’t played it in way too long.

5. I was here for the first round of Strawberry Shortcake, when she was cute and frumpy instead of stylish and sassy.

6. One of my favorite boardgames to play is THERAPY. (Recommended for ages 16 and up.)

7. The most advanced gaming console ever owned in my family growing up was the Atari 2600.

Okay, so, there you go. Now comes the part that I’m not so good at, the continuation of the tagging. If you participate, just let me know in the comments!

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I bought one of these toys for my daughter a few years ago (a very discounted find at Big Lots!). It was fun to share with her a toy that I coveted as a kid. These toys, though, seem to have gotten less fun over the decades. The ones I remember from my childhood had a whole tray of makeup surrounding the head that you could use to doll Barbie up. Am I remembering that correctly? These just come with a few hair things to switch up Barbie’s style from time to time.

Maybe that’s because there’s soooo much play make-up out there for little girls now. I don’t remember much more than lip gloss (Bonne Bell, anyone?) and the Tinkerbell brand “Bo-Po” (brush on, peel off) nail polish available when we were little. Now there’s glitter for your hair and in your lotion, lots of play eye makeup, and body sprays marketed for little girls. Maybe that’s taken away some of the fun of dolling up a plastic head? Anyway, there’s the status of the ‘do on our Latina Barbie’s head. She’s looking pretty, don’tcha think?

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Here are the results:

I wonder if the results would be the same if we were comparing Bratz to the new My Scene line of Barbies (like the one pictured above), which are described as “fun ‘n flirty dolls”. They do look creepily like the Bratz dolls, I think. I’ll stick to traditional Barbie, or maybe none at all. Strawberry Shortcake is looking better and better! How long can I keep her cool in our house?

Thanks to each of you who participated in our poll! Please share your input for our next poll about spending amounts for kids’ birthday gifts. It’s in the sidebar at the right, or you can vote by clicking here. Thank you!

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Follow this post to the end to see the YouTube posting of the ABC interview (and then please vote in our Barbie or Bratz? poll in the sidebar on the right!). Here are a few interesting bits that I gleaned from it all:

Larian admits that he first thought the dolls looked like aliens, but now thinks they’re beautiful. He states that, “it’s time for Barbie to retire,” and that Mattel (makers of Barbie) has engaged in, “really unfair competitions,” where the battle of the #1 and #2 dolls are concerned.

While the interivew/news segment talks about several of Barbie’s personas being career oriented, they point out that the Bratz girls are more about shopping. Larian characterizes the Bratz dolls as, “Girls with a passion for fashion.” Larian also seems to find it laughable that girls associate Bratz with teenagers and Barbies as mothers. Yeah, because who would ever want their kids to find it fun to be around mom and emulate her characteristics?

There is also a battle being fought in the courtroom over who had the original idea for the Bratz-style dolls. Mattel claims that the designer of Bratz concept devoped the idea while still working at Mattel.

I really can’t say that I’ve looked all that closely at the Bratz dolls, primarily because of their name. It really bugged me that they came out with a doll for little girls that, in name, relayed a sense of sass and entitlement. I don’t like it, anymore than the cute pink shirts that say things like, “spoiled brat.” Nope, not for my kid. Of course, you don’t actually see a “poor house” Barbie, either. So, maybe my opinions are colored by my memories of playing with Barbie. I’m okay with that for now.

Take a few minutes (actually, about eight) to listen to what both sides have to say and share your opinions on the interview.

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Business Week Online has published an article questioning the longevity of Barbie as an American toy icon:

Sales for the iconic Barbie fell 1% worldwide, the 11th consecutive quarter of decline for the franchise. Indeed, it’s a worrying sign that kids like Katayan are starting to eschew Barbie for other, more interactive toys.

It is a question raised as the girls of the next generation have so many playtime options available to them. Are dolls and dress up being completely replaced by on-line games and other hi-tech toys?

I don’t think so. Yes, my five year old daughter has more hi-tech distractions available to her than the Pac-Man and Frogger of my youth. However, no computer game is a replacement for her desire to dress and undress her Barbies, adding and combining new accessories, and wrangling her two year old brother in to help her. There is just too much enjoyment from seeing and feeling the fabrics, playing with the hair, and crawling around on the floor trying to find those blasted teeny shoes (oh, sorry, that last one isn’t fun, and it’s usually not the kids doing it).

I think that Barbie is far too ingrained in our culture to be departing anytime soon, if ever. Just last night, I was scrapbooking with a few friends, and the topic of the Barbie Dream House was brought up. We realized that, of the six of us there, 3-4 still had our original Barbie Dream House (some still in our parent’s basement). One grandma had even taken the step of buying all of the original furniture on ebay and sending it to her daughter and granddaughters’ house. (Oh great, now I’ve given my mom ideas. Where am I going to put that thing?!) The nostalgia factor alone gives Barbie plenty of persistence in the toy world, until she’ll be begging to retire and collect her benefits.

Besides, as Barbie continues to forge her way into higher tech avenues, in such ways as the Barbie computer games, electronic Barbie toys, and the Barbie website, she guarantees to stake her claim on the affections of little girls everywhere.

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