Memories of Barbie dolls

What kind of toys do you like best when you are young? I think that most of us would remember that some Barbies we played with. As to me, I would never forget about the childhood when I played Barbies with my brothers and sisters.

2010 is the sixteenth birthday of Barbie. The doll first appeared at the toy fair in an American city in a spring time.

Its creator was an American businesswoman whose name is Hander. She and her husband Elliot along with Harold “Matt” Matson began the toy firm Mattel. She called the new doll after their daughter Barbara. She based the design on a German doll named Bild Lilli.

The first Barbie wore a black and white swimsuit and had her hair in a ponytail. She looked and seemed very grown-up, but any concerns that parents would not want to buy it for little girls were soon proved wrong. Mattel sold three hundred thousand Barbie dolls in the first year at a price of three dollars. Today, a fifty year-old Barbie in good condition may cost more than twenty-seven thousand dollars.

Barbies have represented fifty different nationalities and are sold in one hundred and fifty countries. Mattel says ninety percent of children in the United States between the ages of three and ten own at least one Barbie doll. Barbie has faced recent competition from Bratz dolls. Barbie has also faced her share of critics.

A well-known example was that women’s education groups objected to a talking Barbie that declared “Math class is tough!” Mattel agreed to change it. Saudi Arabia has banned Barbie dolls. And a lawmaker in the American state of West Virginia would like to do the same. Last month, he proposed banning sales of Barbie and other dolls that influence girls to put too much importance on physical beauty.

Many people say Barbie is an unhealthy role model for little children. Robine Gerbe doesn't think like that. She wrote a book about Barbie pointing out dolls like scientist Barbie and race car driver Barbie. She says people who criticize Barbie should tell children the story of the businesswoman who created her. She says Ruth Handler wanted the dolls to help children think about what they wanted to do with their lives.

Do you know what was Barbie named after? I am not sure about the mainly reason for why some people criticize Barbie dolls, what I know is that I like Barbie dolls very much, for now and for ever.