When you think of Barbie, you see a tall, skinny, blonde haired, blue eyed doll, but not any more. Barbie is getting a makeover: she is now also offered as a tall, petite or curvy doll. She also comes with different skin tones, eye colors, hair colors and textures. The possibilities are now endless, but when I was little I already knew that.

When I was younger I never saw Barbie and thought, “Wow, I wish I looked like her.” I looked at Barbie and saw a tool to create any situation I wanted. I had a ridiculous number of the original Barbies, but each of them had a unique personality. Each one was different: a doctor, a vet, a professional chef, an astronaut, a professional athlete.

Barbie really challenged me to use my imagination. She helped me learn to adapt quickly. When I was four, my dog ate the foot and arm off one of my Barbies, and from then on she became a surfer who got in a terrible accident, but still kept going.

I was a wild child who never sat still for very long, but Barbie got me to sit down and use my imagination for hours. I remember my brother got a G.I. Joe with a space ship for Christmas one year, but he never played with it.  I took it and used it for my Barbies, and when it landed on Mars (my bed), Barbie became the first person to step foot on another planet.

I know this all sounds silly because she is a doll, and how could I learn from something that I was controlling? But I learned how to put my ideas into action and how to harness my creativity to invent a world of my own.  Barbie taught me to persevere, think outside the box, work hard and challenge myself.

I understand that Mattel, the maker of Barbie,  has created the new dolls to be more inclusive and adapt to changing beauty standards. But I think it is counterproductive because it really made me notice all the unrealistic features on the other ones. It also annoys me because the people who complain about the way a Barbie looks are the same people who say “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But that is exactly what those people are doing; they are judging a children’s toy by its appearance and not for the hours of creative entertainment it provides. We must look past the shiny hard plastic to see the potential within.