In the past few weeks, I’ve attended dozens of weddings. Luckily, I didn’t need new clothing for each one. But I have been tasked with outfitting numerous guests, and even the bride and groom themselves, squeezing skimpily made garments with Velcro closures onto slender bodies.
We’re talking plastic bodies ― Barbies, Kens, Skippers, Chelseas and Disney princesses. Dozens of them pepper the playroom of my 4-year-old granddaughter. “They’re getting married,” is the phrase that she voices every time — and it’s plenty of times — that she recruits me to “play Barbie.”
Barbie typically marries Ken, although I’ve also attended the weddings of Cinderella and Ken and Snow White and Ken. (Barbie must be flush with jealousy!) The marriage of Barbie and Barbie or Ken and Ken hasn’t yet crossed her mind, and, honestly, I feel that it’s her parents’ place, not mine, to have that conversation.
However, underscoring that kids’ imaginations — or views of reality — vary, my 3-year-old granddaughter recently exclaimed during a bath: “My mermaid is going to a wedding.” I couldn’t help but ask, “Who is she marrying?” “The other mermaid,” she exclaimed, as she began washing them to prepare for the big event.
