Making Peace with Barbie

I used to really wrestle with the idea of my kids playing with Barbies, for all of the obvious reasons. So here's a little twist: Now, when one of Clara's friends comes over and they decide to get out the Barbies, I practically squee with joy. I see now that Barbies are not the enemy. They are nice, age-appropriate, non-electronic, time-honored toys for seven-year-old girls (and at least one four-year-old boy) to play with. Clara and her friend Josie (who is also half Canadian, so you know that she is a cool kid) played Barbies ALL AFTERNOON. The Barbies went camping, they went swimming, they changed their clothes several gazillion times....they even got dressed all in red for a Chinese New Year's parade (I kid you not. Clara and Josie went from talking about Cinco de Mayo, to flags, to China, to dragons, to parades.) For four hours, the girls were completely engrossed in their Barbie Land of Make-Believe. Whatever subliminal warped-body-image messages Barbie was sending out, she more than made up for with her versatility and endurance today. Thanks, Barb. You're not half bad. Sorry for all the nasty things I've said about you in the past.