Immodest Barbie Dolls - teaching children modesty

[Serap]

My dd got 2 very immodest Barbie Dolls for Christmas. I took them and told her that their clothes were immodest and I went out and bought 2 new outfits (for as much as the dolls cost ) and my dd re-dressed them in long gowns. She said, “Now they are modest mommy!”

My heart sank the other day when my dd told me that she wishes she had yellow hair. I am blond and she asked me how she could become blond like me.

With the way society is, how do we teach modesty to children?

 

[fgh_123]

Children don’t really see the issue when they’re at the age they are playing with dolls, so I wouldn’t even raise the issue seeing as they are under your supervision most of the time anyway.

 

[Nelka]

Try buying a doll that doesn’t have breasts the size of her head.

 

[Serap]

Try buying a doll that doesn’t have breasts the size of her head.

uncharitable response. Barbie had a breast reduction btw.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I’ll probably be critiqued, but I love Barbie.

I have brown hair, I remember wanting a brown haired Barbie, but I never wanted to be a “blonde”.

I let my daughter play with Barbie, and I let her keep the clothing, even the short skirts and bathing suits. I actually love the shoes, she has a pink pair of sandals that I would buy, if they were sold in adult sizes.

I dress modestly, because I am a person. Barbie is a doll, she does not resemble any real life person.

I go shopping with DD. Sometimes I let her pick out things for me. She’ll tell me which jeans look nice, which look like “Grandma clothes.”

I’m my DD’s role model for “women” I try to guide her to be a good Catholic woman, a strong woman. She has not ever thought any less of herself because of Barbie.

 

[RedSoxWife]

Try buying a doll that doesn’t have breasts the size of her head.

I’m guessing the doll was probably a gift. That’s how my dd got her first barbie this christmas. And once the child’s opens the gift (from a family member in our case) it can be tough to pry it away (especially with family asking how she likes it and acting like we’re crazy for not going all out for Santa…). I’d say getting another outfit was probably one of the best things she could have done in this scenario. My dd’s doll’s top was actually painted on (glitter)…

 

[anodos]

My mother never wanted her daughters to own Barbies, but grandma gave us some for Christmas. Grandma also hand-made all of their clothes (70’s style and polyester ); I don’t remember having very many “immodest” Barbie outfits, other than a few bikini tops. It didn’t hurt my self-image, and it didn’t warp my understanding of what was proper and improper cothing. I think that real women (and peers), rather than dolls, are more likely to affect a child.

 

[gardenswithkids]

Barbie’s biggest problem with modesty in my home isn’t the clothes; it’s keeping her clothes on. Younger children can’t always put her clothes back on once they take them off. I prefer the ballerina Barbies with the built-in leotards that children can’t remove. Nail polish can also work as permanent underwear/swimsuit.

 

[ora_pro_nobis]

Barbie’s biggest problem with modesty in my home isn’t the clothes; it’s keeping her clothes on. Younger children can’t always put her clothes back on once they take them off. I prefer the ballerina Barbies with the built-in leotards that children can’t remove. Nail polish can also work as permanent underwear/swimsuit.

Ha! all of my sister’s dolls spent most of the time naked! It was almost the first thing she did when she was given a doll - take its clothes off! She has grown up to be a fashionable but modestly dressed woman though.

To the OP: I don’t know how old your daughter is, but perhaps you could show her how to make clothes for Barbie, or make them with/for her. The more outfits she has the better. I think you can buy Barbie dress patterns.

 

[lizaanne]

What in the world is wrong with taking the clothes off a doll??!! You know, when people take their clothes off they are <> NAKED underneath!!!

Seriously folks - it’s not immodest for a DOLL to have her clothes off - it’s not as if Barbie has anatomically correct lady parts.

They are children. No wonder children end up messed up, it’s their parents who have so many sexual hang ups that are projected on their children that’s the real problem.

Naked dolls are age appropriate to a point. Children are just playing, learning, and trying to understand. They are not thinking SEX when they see a naked doll, they are thinking - I bet she’s cold, let’s put some clothes on her!!

~Liza

 

[fgh_123]

What in the world is wrong with taking the clothes off a doll??!! You know, when people take their clothes off they are <> NAKED underneath!!!

Seriously folks - it’s not immodest for a DOLL to have her clothes off - it’s not as if Barbie has anatomically correct lady parts.

They are children. No wonder children end up messed up, it’s their parents who have so many sexual hang ups that are projected on their children that’s the real problem.

Naked dolls are age appropriate to a point. Children are just playing, learning, and trying to understand. They are not thinking SEX when they see a naked doll, they are thinking - I bet she’s cold, let’s put some clothes on her!!

~Liza

So strongly this. Your child WON’T see the issue with this unless you make it an issue, in which case you’ve just opened pandora’s box…

 

[ChiRho]

What in the world is wrong with taking the clothes off a doll??!! You know, when people take their clothes off they are <> NAKED underneath!!!

Seriously folks - it’s not immodest for a DOLL to have her clothes off - it’s not as if Barbie has anatomically correct lady parts.

They are children. No wonder children end up messed up, it’s their parents who have so many sexual hang ups that are projected on their children that’s the real problem.

Naked dolls are age appropriate to a point. Children are just playing, learning, and trying to understand. They are not thinking SEX when they see a naked doll, they are thinking - I bet she’s cold, let’s put some clothes on her!!

~Liza

by the same token, would you also say that more revealing clothing on a Barbie is nothing to worry about? Or is there something different between a doll with a bikini and a doll that is “naked”?

Not impugning you, just wondering if there is a difference

 

[CB_Catholic]

Between the two of them, my granddaughters have 46 Barbies and all of them are naked. I don’t think they even notice the clothes (or lack of them).:roll eyes:

And yes, Barbie had a bilateral reduction mammoplasty sometime in the past couple of years…I found that out when looking through the 46 naked dolls

 

[SurlyMermaid]

Just be thankful it wasn’t any of those danged Bratz dolls!!!

 

[lizaanne]

by the same token, would you also say that more revealing clothing on a Barbie is nothing to worry about? Or is there something different between a doll with a bikini and a doll that is “naked”?

Not impugning you, just wondering if there is a difference

No prob - fair question.

I think it can be a teaching moment, IF the child isn’t freaked out in the process. An approach of “let’s see if we can find a nicer bathing suit for her” as opposed to “OHMYGOSH, that bathing suit is SOOOOO WRONG!!!” whilst ripping it off and switching it as quickly as possible.

~Liza

 

[Shondee]

ALl my Baribie doll clothes cam from the 80’s. it was tight, short, and skimpy, but you know what? When you’re seven? you don’t notice. I never looked at my Barbie and thought GEE, i want to dress and look like her. Nope. I’d rather be like Monster High’s Ghoulia myself. Cute little glasses wearing comic book nerd she is.

Anyway. I never understood what the heck the big hubub over barbie was

 

[ChildofGod2091]

Honestly American Girl Dolls would probably be a better bet. Expensive as heck, but they have good stories to go along with them and such.

 

[RedSoxWife]

by the same token, would you also say that more revealing clothing on a Barbie is nothing to worry about? Or is there something different between a doll with a bikini and a doll that is “naked”?

Not impugning you, just wondering if there is a difference

That’s what I was thinking. I have less problems with the naked dolls wandering around my house and more problems with the crazy hooker like outfits I see when we walk down the Barbie aisle. I had Barbie’s in the 80s. Some had short skirts. Lots had pouffy, beautiful dresses. And I don’t remember any having dresses cut down to their navels…

 

[Gordon_Sims]

We don’t mind our girls having Barbies, although we do avoid the trashier outfits and don’t let them have Bratz dolls. Curiously, I had someone call me a hypocrite and a fascist for not letting my girls have the Tramp Stamp Barbie, aka Totally Stylin’ Tattoo Barbie. They couldn’t explain the hypocrite part, but they felt I was a fascist because I was stifling their creativity and natural curiosity. Whatever.

 

[Serap]

That’s what I was thinking. I have less problems with the naked dolls wandering around my house and more problems with the crazy hooker like outfits I see when we walk down the Barbie aisle. I had Barbie’s in the 80s. Some had short skirts. Lots had pouffy, beautiful dresses. And I don’t remember any having dresses cut down to their navels…

I agree, naked Barbie is no big deal to me either. It’s healthy for kids to undress and dress Barbie.

I have an issue with the “hooker” outfits also. I opt for a nice ball dress or a cute pair of pants and a top. I just don’t want my dd’s Barbies to look like hookers. My brother and his wife did the same with my niece’s Barbie dolls also.

My mom also makes Barbie doll clothes for us b/c she feels the same way and my mother is not religious at all.

Why does Barbie have to dress like a hoochie and then be sold to young children? Why does she have to be so immodest? Why can’t she wear princess dresses instead? I realize that many Barbies are dressed modest, but why do they market the hoochie ones to young children? It is just not appropriate IMO.