A 3-year-old is evidence that Barbie dolls are still popular

Barbie is back!

If seeing how my 3-year-old granddaughter loves her myriad Barbie-type dolls wasn't enough, Mattel Inc. recently said that during the pandemic year of 2020, Barbie had its best sales growth in 20 years. Barbie – previously considered an outdated doll that gave girls an unhealthy view of their bodies – is now one of the hottest toys in America.

The reasons are a revamp of Barbie's look, partnerships with movie studies and work with social media influencers.

And my 3-year-old granddaughter and presumably, her 1-year-old sister.

The dolls are different now. Barbie dolls come in 22 skin tones and 94 hair colors. There are five body types. There are Barbie dolls with wheelchairs.

(Side note: I can't track the dolls' names. I know some are named Barbie, but some have other names. It's mystifying. They have names like Skipper and . . . well, all I know are Skipper and Barbie. I think one of my sisters had a doll named Midge, who may have been produced by Mattel.)

While Mrs. Brad kept her Barbie dolls from her childhood (which may have been the "gateway drug" for our granddaughter to love the dolls), I have never been connected to them. I had three older sisters and they had some sort of Barbie-like dolls, but I don't have clear memories of them.

I remember trolls. I remember paper dolls. I remember some sort of dollhouse.

I also remember finding a G.I. Joe with a missing arm and playing with him with my friend Troy, who had the cool, bearded G.I. Joe. We would throw them back and forth over the house, pretending they were falling out of airplanes, which is a very boy thing to do.

But man, our 3-year-old granddaughter loves those dolls. We have variations at our house for when she and her sister (and their parents) visit, including a cool smaller one with a wraparound skirt. The first time we shared her, we mentioned the skirt and our granddaughter has since called the doll "Kurt," which is sweet.

This is all new to me. It's also new to my son and daughter-in-law. They purposefully avoided giving her "girl" toys and doing such things as painting her room pink or reading her princess stories (this is my interpretation. I've never asked). They wanted her to be herself.

At 3, what she wants to be is a princess who plays with Barbie dolls.

That may be part of the attraction of Barbie: The doll taps into something that little girls (and little boys) like.

But it's not just luck. Give the Mattel people credit for figuring out a way to transform one of their flagship properties to a world that is entirely different than when Barbie first appeared in 1959.

Next up is a Barbie movie from Warner Bros. Who knows what that will do to the brand.

Here's what we know: Barbie bounced back during the pandemic and Barbie is still big after 62 years. She may become even bigger in the next few years.

We also know that old-school G.I. Joes can survive "falls from airplanes."

That knowledge might terrorize my 3-year-old granddaughter, so I'll keep it to myself.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@outlook.com.