Let me talk about...

Barbie.

As in, the doll.

In case you don't know, I'm a fan of Pinterest. A big one. I spend hours on that site. Combing it religiously for recipes, crafts, brilliant ideas....Pinterest is a whole 'nother blog in itself. I could spend hours proclaiming my love.

So, while I'm on Pinterest, I often come across "motivation" themed pins posted by girls striving for the perfect body. Some pins are helpful, providing exercises that don't put stress on your joints or tasty recipes for "healthy" cookie dough. But mostly they're just pictures of fitness models or corny phrases that girls use to spur themselves on. Most follow the "Fit is the new thin." and "Healthy is the new pretty." (I know, I know. I have a board semi-dedicated to this stuff. I'll admit it. It's called 'Ditching the Heft'. Don't judge me.)

I understand that they're true and blah blah blah, but, quite frankly they annoy me. Either work out or don't. Don't keep pinning words to make yourself feel better. Get out there and YOU make yourself better! Amen?

Anyways, as of late, I've seen some pins bashing Barbie. And I'm here to say, "Leave Barbie alone!"

They want to change her. Can you believe it?! My childhood best friend. My beloved toy. They want to make her lil' boobies smaller, her hips wider, her thighs bigger. They want to change the very things I never even noticed as I collected them...by the hundreds. I loved her. I really did. And that's why I'm here to tell you....

Barbie...is a doll. That's it. SHE'S A DOLL.

She's not a good example or an accurate model of the female figure. She's not a role model.

Barbie is pretend.

In fact, everything about her and her life is pretend and not true to reality.

She has an all-pink car. Her house is smaller than she is. She doesn't have any wrinkles, freckles, moles, birthmarks, or stretch marks. The bananas in her grocery store are the perfect shade of yellow. She goes from being a veterinarian to a stewardess to a doctor to a teacher without accumulating student loans. She is taller than her horse (which is pink and white). She doesn't age. Her feet are perfectly shaped for heels. And she has a friend named "Midge". Those things aren't real life!

Who cares? What does that have to do with anything?

Oh no! What if little girls think no other color options are available for cars!? Will they have heart attacks when they go to buy a car in real life and none are pink convertibles?

Or what if they think that you're supposed to be bigger than your house, not smaller?! Or what if they can't grasp the fact that no horses exist with glitter manes and pink horseshoes? What if they think that all it takes is the perfect occupation-themed outfit and a great pair of heels to make a career?

If we're going to make Barbie proportionately perfect (or imperfect, rather), we're going to have to change lots of other things about her life as well. We're going to have to scrap the whole thing. The new, plus-sized, true-to-life Barbie will have to have a tan house and a blue car. She'll have to have bananas with brown stains, a dusty horse with a brown mane that smells (and you'll have to shoe it periodically). She'll have to go through years of paperwork and schooling before she can wear that snappy lawyer outfit. She'll have to drink coffee to keep her smile and her eyes open so wide. She's going to have to make student loan payments. Barbie and Ken won't be able to go to Hawaii, para sail, or swim with dolphins (who has money or time for that?). Instead, they'll have bills and arguments about taking the trash out. Ken will only want to play video games with Allan and Barbie will be too tired to wear the nurse's uniform anymore (if you know what I mean). And that complexion? Never. She'll have blemishes that can only be covered with pound of expensive foundation.

There ya go. "Real life Barbie". How much fun does that sound like? That's not a world I want to live in, Internet!

(Oh, and Ken...well, he's gonna have to change too. Let's face it, we've made him far too pretty. Without going into graphic detail...let's just say real life is not so smooth..or attractive.)

It has nothing to do with Barbie or her stuff or her boyfriend. It has to do with where your self esteem comes from. Do you need to see your body in doll form to find it acceptable?

It's supposed to cute and fun. Letting little girls be little girls! Imagining things in a silly, Barbie world. Not a real world. Not a perfect world. A pretend world.

Instead of changing Barbie, why don't we just focus on teaching girls to think for themselves? WE, as strong women (and men, whatever), should be their role models. Not some little, over-accessorized piece of plastic. It's really kind of ridiculous when you think about it.

I'm not saying that images in social media affect young girls. I don't deny that. I know that what they see makes a huge difference about how they feel about themselves. I don't deny that the unrealistic portrayal of a woman's body has the potential to cause huge problems. I don't want to make light of those issues.

But that's just my point! We need to move away from that. We need to teach our daughters, our nieces, our friends' daughters to look beyond what they see and look for the truth instead. If we adjust what they see to be more like "real life", we aren't helping them at all. We're still showing them to look towards something outside themselves to feel reassurance. "Barbie's plus-size! Now it's ok for you to be too! *Phew* Thank goodness!"

Have you ever heard the famous Gandhi quote: "Be the change you want to see in the world."? (If you've been on Pinterest, you probably have.) Well, that's what we need to remember.

We should be the change we want to see in our girls.

If we can do that, we'll accomplish far more than Barbie ever could.