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What Happened to Barbie?

Last week I was pushing my daughter in the shopping cart as we went down the toy aisle. She likes to look at (and ask for) all the Disney princesses and Doc McStuffins toys. As we made our way through the toys and came to the end of the aisle, I was shocked to see this doll:




Not only is this doll wearing a half shirt, but that is the shortest skirt I have ever seen on a toy. This doll is showing more “skin” than she has covered up, and the article of clothes with the most material are her socks.

This was not in an adult toy store or with the pre-teen stuff, but on the same aisle where my 4-year old finds cloth replicas of cartoon characters. What is wrong with us?

I wonder how many fathers were shocked over Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance, but would buy this doll for their little girls. I wonder how many mothers think men are pigs for checking girls out, but they let their daughters wear skirts just as short as this doll’s (and thus, giving those pigs something else to check out).

This is how we justify what we do.
It’s just a toy.
This is the style these days.
It’s just entertainment.

And the message we send our kids is that these things are normal and OK. But it isn’t normal to “twerk” in front of millions of people; it isn’t normal to ride naked on a wrecking ball. It isn’t normal to leave more uncovered than covered. But we’re telling our kids that it is.

This is the problem in our country. This is why Christians are leaving the faith: We give them a Christian worldview on Sundays, but give them a secular worldview the other six days of the week.

What we produced is a generation that has no problem calling themselves Christian while living like the devil. This did not come from professors or the “wrong crowd;” it came from compromising parents sending mixed messages to their children.

Parents, I beg you to evaluate the message you are sending your children. We are not perfect, and that is not what I am calling for. But we need to strive to set a clear, consistent example of godliness. I would rather my children be right in God’s eyes than in the world’s eyes.

That means we might have to say no to the dress, or in this case, the complete lack of it, on the doll.  


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