She’s a veterinarian, an astronaut, ballet dancer, princess and a bride.  But sooner or later, Barbie just ends up naked.

My 7-year-old Caroline has a gazillion Barbies and princess dolls.  They all have quite the

Everyone is dressed. For now.

wardrobe.  Frilly party dresses, bedazzled gowns, high heels to match – Barbie’s outfits are better than mine.  Really.  And I’m not bitter about that. At all.

But for some reason, every time I go into my daughter’s room to clean it up, it seems like I’m interrupting a Barbie nudist party.  Or MTV’s spring break.

Half the Barbies have swapped clothes, so Disney princesses look like they’re clubbing, and Skipper is dressed as Cinderella.  The Barbie Dream House is rockin’ with a couple of dolls watching the flat screen on the second floor, one fixing wedding cake in the kitchen on the ground floor and two others hanging in the hot tub on the roof.

And half of them are naked.  Today I was straightening up and found a naked torso.  No head.  Like something out of “Dexter”. Sorta freaked me out. Is it laziness? Curiosity? Lack of proper outfits?

Call Dexter Morgan

My husband said he walked in to my daughter’s room one afternoon and witnessed a Barbie line up with about ten dolls sitting on the floor. Naked. Our daughter’s explanation?

“They’re swimming.”

My husband turned around and walked out.

Is it too hard to make sure everyone is dressed? It seems sad that they’re strewn about, with that big ol’ smile and no clothes on.  Or maybe as adults we’re just obsessed with covering up. Maybe we need to be ok with bare Barbie.  Maybe naked Barbie is a metaphor for young kids not wanting to put a label on themselves, but just wanting to be free to be whatever they want to be.

Kidding.

I went to a child rearing expert (my mother) for her opinion.  She reminded me of many times she yelled at my sisters and I to “Clean up those Barbies and for God’s sake put some clothes on them!!” I guess it runs in the family.

I asked my daughter why sometimes there are naked dolls  hanging around.  She said simply, “I just didn’t finish changing them.  You called me to do my homework.”

Phew.  That’s it.

"Real World: Troy, MI"

Maybe it’s the dolls themselves. I’ll have to keep my eye on them – to make sure the Dream House, doesn’t turn into the “Real World” set.