Ken You Dig It?

Want to know how to breath new life into a pile of matted-haired Barbies?  Add a Ken doll...Well, not just one Ken. We learned all too quickly in a house with 3 Barbie playing gals that fights happen when there is only one Ken to go around. (I'm sure HE enjoyed being the most sought after toy by plastic girls and real girls alike.) Last week, we added a few more Kens to the mix.  The fighting stopped and now the Barbie to Ken ratio has shrunk from 1:20 to about 1:5.  Not as bad.



"A Barbie Trip to the Movies"


We received a ton of our Barbies (and Moxie Girls/Liv Dolls/Disney Princesses--the OTHER Barbie-esque dolls in our collection) as gifts.  The number of Barbie/Barbie-esque dolls continued to multiply while our solitary Ken basked in the abundant amorous attention of all his new gal pals. This just wouldn't do, besides the CONSTANT fighting between the girls about who would get to play with Ken--headache inducing to say the least--I was just cringing at the dynamics of the "play" that was taking place: "Ken" snubs "Ariel" for a date with "Fashionista Barbie."  "Dog walker Barbie" prepares for her date with "Ken" while "Belle", "Tiana", "Gymnastics Barbie," "Merlia," and "Barbie Mariposa" sulk in a jealous pile nearby.  "Ken" lines up "Babysitter Barbie" "Snow White", and a bald "Liv Doll" and "can't decide" whom he would rather whisk to the beach in his pink convertible.  Enough already! 

Populating the Barbie pile with a few more Ken dolls seems to have done the trick. We are up to 4 "Kens" now: Beach Ken, African American Beach Ken (Whom the girls named "Rock" for some reason) and two "Fashionista Kens": One in skinny jeans who (Sorry, Bud) resembles my brother and another blond with a "Justin Bieber Do."  Pickings were slim at the K-mart.  I'm not a huge fan of the Kens with real hair--they just look ridiculous...but they have done the trick: Fighting eliminated. And less bachelor-rose-ceremony-drama-type playing with the Barbies. A win-win for everyone except our original "stud" Ken, I suppose.