Have you ever noticed the shining face of a little girl getting her first Barbie doll? It will be glowing not only with delight but also with dreams awakening. When I first received my Barbie doll on fifth birthday, I felt like I got a new best friend. Dressing her up and doing her hair in pony tail or plaits included my favorite play time routines.

Invented in 1959 by Ruth Handler, Barbie doll was inspired by a German doll called Bild Lilli. Barbie was named after Handler's daughter Barbara. Ken, Barbie's boyfriend was introduced in 1961. Barbie, intended as a teenage fashion doll, is available in more than 80 versions, each with a different career from a teenage fashion model to Olympic athlete and astronaut.

Barbie has also met with a fair share of controversies. The figure of Barbie has recently been modified to have wider hips as the experts argued that the exaggeratedly thin figure of the doll may encourage teenage girls to control diet and become anorexic.

Even today, Barbie dolls are a hot favorite among pre-teen and teenage girls. Barbie dolls are also collected as a hobby. Currently, Barbie dolls are available in more than 150 countries across the globe. About a billion different fashions have been designed for Barbie. Barbie CD ROMS have also been launched that has a 3-D interactive adventure game.

I hope Barbie keeps enchanting the future generations of girls and give them a new world full of potential and dreams.

This is some interesting info, thanks for posting!

I never liked dolls myself, but I see how most girls adore their Barbies. What do you think about Barbie's perfect beauty being potentially dangerous for little girls? One day, they'll look in the mirror and realize they will never be that beautiful...