I have written multiple times over the years about the positive influence of Barbie in my life. It was usually because an article would crop up about what a negative influence she was for girls (which is totally interesting given that right now I’ve heard nothing bad about her with the movie out). And the film made a crazy amount of money over the weekend.
My older sister Karen had a Barbie and Ken. What I remember most is that Barbie had so many careers, notably she was an astronaut. I don’t remember that Ken had an astronaut suit although he was the pilot when she was the flight attendant (still a stewardess in those days).
As you can see from the photo, I received my first Barbie when I turned seven. Superstar Barbie. For Christmas, the furniture started to arrive (a wardrobe case and a vanity from the Dreamhouse collection). I believe Ken showed up the next year– Superstar Ken to match.
There would be more Barbies, Kens, and Skippers. And a Scott, too. There was a house of furniture although I longingly never received a dream house. When Denise was given her first Barbie (Malibu Barbie and then Malibu Ken), we were sent to the basement to make our own houses using boxes for walls and 1960s carpet samples for flooring. I had new furniture (I had most of the Dream house furniture but not the Dream house itself) while Denise used Karen’s Karosel Kitchen and a set of furniture our Grandpa Linn had made Karen for her Barbie.
We played Barbies all summer especially (Mom’s favorite way to get rid of us on hot days, “Go down into the basement and play) or sometimes outside in our plastic wading pool. After all, Karen had a boat and camper so we got to use those, too. Often, we were joined by my childhood friend and neighbor Christine.
Our Barbies did whatever we wanted them to. They went places. They wore beautiful gowns and the coolest 1970s dresses. I learned to sew making Barbie dresses. And learned how to design clothes when Mom gave us her bridesmaids dresses to cut up. I could go on and on and I will about side topics related to this in future posts.
But the bottom line is Barbie is where I learned to dream. Barbie taught me that I could be anything I wanted to be because she was whatever I wanted her to be. I could have her life if I worked hard and set goals.
How lucky I am to have such a positive influence to be the spark for my inspiration.