Bonding with Barbie

That's Laila's latest treasure: Princess Rosella from Barbie's Island Princess movie.

I know, I know. I'd been a tough advocate against Barbies. I once hid away several Barbie doll hand-me-downs from cousin Michelle because I didn't want Baby Cat playing with them. Laila eventually discovered the dolls, of course. She combed their flowing locks, switched party dresses and pretended they were going off somewhere.

I was afraid she'd grow up thinking life was all about pretty faces and a svelte physique, fancy dresses and a change of shoes that she'd not place as much importance on strong character, a thirst for knowledge and a healthy quest for knowledge and adventure.

To me Barbie had been the perfect role model for of a bubbly, giggling cheerleaders, a mineglass bindoo (how Laila pronounces mindless bimbo--it's another story how she learned the term and who she heard it from), a dumb blonde.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd been a late-blooming, obese, ugly duckling and, as a teenager, had been secretly envious of girls who blossomed much earlier than I did. I blame that on, while I was growing up, how a lot of people put a lot of premium on 'pretty' and 'sociable' and 'easy-going'. I could, with a stretch of the imagination, pass off as pretty even in my overweight teen years. But sociable and easy-going, no.

Several sensible friends, consulted independently of each other about the Barbie issue, all agree I am being overly paranoid.

But I was only convinced after I heard Laila playing with her dolls and taking them to a fairytale office. Sometimes they're off gallivanting with dragons. Aha! So she's not in the path of being a girly-girl I was afraid she'd become after all.

Which is why when she asked for the Barbie Island Princess doll I really didn't have to think twice about getting her one. It was pretty expensive. It was fortunate that Ninong J gave her one as a gift.

Now, all I have to save up for is that Bratz Chloe doll that you can put makeup on and paint her nails.

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I owned barbies myself as a girl. Who didn't? But Barbie was always a Brenda Starr, Reporter wannabe. I even made her a tiny newspaper, typewriter (computers weren't in vogue then) and a tiny camera. Hmmm, perhaps there is something I should blame Barbie for after all.