Some months ago Mabel’s Nana Debs began making various outfits for a Barbie doll she had previously bought for Mabel as a gift, to play with at her and Grandad John’s house when Mabel was a little older.

Debs’s passion and skill for mini garment crafting resulted in her being asked to discuss her hobby and design process (Debs creates every outfit herself and not from a pattern) at her local Women’s Institute meeting. The talk was a sell-out – in that there were not nearly enough seats and the popularity of Mattel’s global cultural icon came as a surprise to everyone, not least Debs herself.

It never occurred to me to mind that Mabel would essentially be encouraged to play with Barbie. Or at least, to be perfectly honest, I simply hadn’t really considered the prospect at all.

That was until quite coincidently, I overheard some Mums in the queue at Costa having a rather heated debate on the pros and cons of the original blonde bombshell and her unquestionably unrealistic body proportions. One was quite adamant Barbie’s aesthetics alone were, in her opinion, not something she would want her daughter to feel she had to aspire to. The other was more focussed on Barbie’s rather impressive curriculum vitae – whatever your concerns are over her plastic exterior, apparently she knows how to succeed in every career path available.

Had it not been for an imminent opticians appointment I would have obviously endeavoured to make my latte last as long as possible and continue to eavesdrop in a completely non creepy way.

When I returned home after having my eyeballs prodded to within an inch of my life I decided that obviously, I had to not only share Debs’s rather impressive Barbie wardrobe additions, but also ask our readers their thoughts. Is Barbie a negative influence on a young and undoubtedly impressionable audience or could she potentially encourage our children that ahem, anything is possible? (I write this with a wry smile and a generous dose of tongue-in-cheek)

Before you compile your response, do take a look at Mattel’s recent “Imagine The Possibilities” campaign. I have also gone all double whammy and delved into more detail on the history of Barbie and her changing body shape on Rock My Style if you fancy a butchers.

As a kid I had several Barbie dolls. I also had a remote control car, a scalextric track, a nintendo and a vast collection of fimo modelling clay. I like to think I spent an equal amount of time playing with each. As well as often having my head in a book.

My Barbie always had her own money making venture of some kind and my Grandad Stan would indulge me in my latest entrepreneurial desires and build whatever he could out of MDF and super glue. There was a hairdressers, a veterinary surgery, a bakery (the fimo I mentioned? I made teeny tiny battenberg and chocolate eclairs – totes artisan) and a metre long catwalk where she showcased her range of strapless metallic puffball dresses fashioned entirely from the foil wrapping I collected from Easter eggs. Christian Lacroix? he ain’t got nothin’ on Barbs and I.

One of the pinnacles of my Barbie years was when my Aunty and Uncle emigrated to America, I was subsequently gifted with all of my cousin’s accessories, including a Malibu mansion (complete with working shower! and a lift!) a speedboat, a Ferrari and a camper van. This took up the majority of my parents conservatory. I’m not sure they were anywhere near as impressed as I was was with Barbie’s ever expanding estate.

Sadly my Grandad passed away several months before James and I’s wedding, he never got to witness the initial creation and subsequent evolution of Rock My Ltd. I like to think that his dedication to the somewhat controversial doll’s business acumen, which was based entirely on the over active imagination of his granddaughter, was even in some small way responsible for this company and it’s amazing community that exists today.

Honestly? I think role play for kids is great. I think toys that expand their creativity and enable them to learn and grow are great. Barbie specifically? let’s face it, her aesthetics are so entirely unrealistic they verge on the bizarre. But then I think that about the majority of “dolls” and Disney movie heroines. Would I prevent Mabel playing with Barbie? Not at all. But I would also encourage her to choose her own extra curricular adventures, whatever they might include or involve.

All said and done as a child did I ever feel I ever wanted to be Barbie? No. I wanted to be Inspector Gadget. Because what’s a closet full of shoes and the promise of eternal youth when you can have a hat that transforms into a helicopter?