Life

Barbie's Latest Vlog For Kids Is All About Coping During Quarantine & It's Perfect

by Cat Bowen

RIght now, everything feels hard. It all feels big and like simple tasks are too much. Kids' whole lives have been upended, and the carefree joy of childhood has been placed on pause. Thankfully, Barbie has a new vlog to help children cope with quarantine that meets them on their level, providing tips for dealing with stress while validating children's very big emotions.

The video is titled "Making Sense of a New Routine" and features Barbie talking about quarantine in a way that children can easily digest. She talks a little bit about how she and her family have been passing the time by sharing video challenges, doing a lot of art projects, and her favorite — dancing. Throughout the video, Barbie talks about feeling blue, and how sometimes it's hard, and her family is overwhelming, and she's just over it. Barbie explains her strategies for unwinding and de-stressing, instructing children to take deep breaths, meditate, and if necessary, mentally check out for a minute while listening to music. The whole Barbie family offers suggestions about how we can make our lives a little easier by helping each other, and by sharing a caring moment with your friends and family however you can.

She never comes across as too grown, or like she has it all figured out. Honestly, what impressed me the most was how expressive and relatable Barbie is. It felt like I was watching a Disney film, it was so well-designed. For kids, that just makes it that much more familiar, and that much more successful.

My daughter loves Barbie, and as she sat with me to watch this episode, I was able to see in real time how kids are absorbing this message. It was interesting to watch her take a deep breath at the same time Barbie took in a deep breath, and watch her laugh over Barbie's "attempted bread baking," as we have done a fair bit of that ourselves. (Our first few attempts at sourdough were, in fact, sour.) When I asked her what she thought, she said "Yeah, I like to listen to Panic! At The Disco when I'm tired of everything." And I think we can all agree that taking a deep breath and jamming out to some pop music is a healthy coping mechanism. Thanks, Barbie.