Monster High?

My daughter got one at 5 and has a few more now (along with clothes and a movie or two). I don't think they are bad at all the movies are more about them accepting peoples differences and being happy with who you are (typical stuff).

They look like Bratz in Halloween costumes to me. A little overly-sexy. Somehow I am escaping this issue even though my DD has a friend who loves them.

My 6 year old is pretty intrigued by them and hoping to get some for Christmas. I am not one to overthink my child's playthings, so I'll probably buy some. I think it's fine.

My daughter loves Monster High. I would think for a 5 year old the dolls would be appropriate. However, they are more of a collector type, with ball joints. So be sure you don't care if they get played with. I would watch the shows with her, just to be sure. Seeing as your daughter is only 5 some of the boy/girl "drama" might be lost on her, but nothing is more then PG/kissing.

Ask her why she likes it. My daughter is a "spooky" fan too and I don't mind them being "misrepresentations of femininity" or what not. They're monsters...they're supposed to be misshaped.

We collect and I'm looking into making my daughter her own monster. :)

Communication. :) Enjoy.

I think your discomfort is valid. I've made it perfectly clear to my daughter we will not be buying these dolls at 5, 10 , or 15 and she understands. This is me and my husbands choice as a family of faith teaching our children to act in ways that honor God. These toys push ideas, attitudes, and practices we want to teach our children to steer clear of : hypersexuality, haughtiness, rebellion, superficiality, glorification of death, mind control, voodoo (witch craft), necromancy, all splattered with occult symbolism. Just because they are seasoned with some token good concepts, like accepting others, does not make them good.

I think it is all a matter of opinion. For my now 8 year old, I don't care for it. I don't know much about their personalities on the show, but I don't care much for the appearances. Sure I think they are cute, but they don't hold the appearance and style I want my daughter a part of at her age. If she likes the dolls, it is likely she will want to mirror the image.

I have no intention of judging others who like them, but since you asked - to me, for my daughter, they're inappropriate. But then again, I hated Bratz dolls for the same reason. The monster part doesn't bother me. They look slutty to me and just out to party - at least Barbie had careers and conveyed the message girls could be whatever they wanted. But I got irritated with Barbie, too - too many belly shirts and my daughter got a remote controlled skating barbie who had a thong skirt on. Really? Thong? There's too much pressure to grow up too quickly, and I'm lucky my daughter has never pushed those boundaries too hard and had no interest in bratz or monster high, although she saw them in the store and thought they looked inappropriate, too (she's 11). I'm sure there are redeeming values I'm not seeing - someone mentioned a show that goes with it - we don't really watch TV, so I wouldn't know about that.

I'm sure it's probably ok-when my sister was little-and she is 7 years younger than I am-we made her watch "Dark Shadows" and to this day, she will watch anything with vampires/werewolves-she is about to turn 50!

I think it's pretty normal for kids to find this kind of thing interesting. I mean, when I was little I loved The Munsters and The Addams Family, and The Count on Sesame Street was always one of my favorites.
And of course there was Casper the Friendly Ghost.
Boy am I old or what LOL!

Interesting. My daughter is 12 and I've never heard her express any interest in them. She had a fleeting interest in having a Bratz doll several years ago.. only to figure out after the fact that it was b/c the one she wanted came with a camera in the box. She really just wanted the camera.

I don't like the image dolls like that project, so I would steer my child in a different direction. That's your prerogative as her parent. If you are ok with it, then you are. If you aren't, then you aren't.

All that matters is whether you're comfortable with it for your daughter. But to answer the question, I don't personally think Monster High (either the show or dolls) are appropriate for a 5 year old. I wouldn't let my 6.5 year olds watch the show, and I steer them towards other dolls - ones that look more like 6 years olds, not 16 year olds.

Usually, commonly... a younger child will often like something or want something... that an older friend, has.
Whether that child is 5, or 12.

My daughter is 11, we saw the commercials for it.
I asked my daughter what she thought of it.
My daughter didn't like them.
She said "its just another thing, that makes money at Christmas and all the little girls will ask for it."
She thought it looked "sassy" and was turned off by it.

I love the monster high clothes for daughter who is just turned 4. They have fun weird striped clothes that she loves. I think the dolls are a little expensive. I agree that the dolls are just another Barbie with a twist. Like I said to each their own. I wouldn't put a lot of money into it because like anything it's a fad at this age, and it'll pass.

yeah I didn't like it when my son was into Pokémon. it just seemed stupid and not what I wanted for him. I did try to redirect gently, but it's been a few years and he does still like them.

so I probably would have said, no I wouldn't introduce Monster high to a five year old and yes they aren't age appropriate and yes they are stupid, but at this point it's probably too late and you can just accept it or hope she finds something she likes better.

It's just Goth Barbie. I don't see an age issue.

I'm sure it is the older girls that have had an influence on your daughter. I am not crazy about these dolls and my daughter is younger than yours, so she does not know about them, but she does know about older boy things such as ninjago. Anyway, I would probably pick my battles and let her have one or two if my daughter loved them. I noticed so many clothes and backpacks at the stores, so it is almost forced on the 6-10 size age group.

edit: after ready Jane's opinion I will do some research on these. I still might consider them, but I do see her point.

My daughter has been playing with them since she was 4 years old and she's almost 7 now. She plays with them along with her barbies and fairy dolls. We've never seen the show.

I went through the exact same thoughts as you are a year ago when my daughter was turning five. She has liked these dolls since she was two; despite being scared of anything else that looked like monsters.
I was hesitant to let her have anything to do with these for a long time- until her 5th birthday in which she wanted a Monster High Party. After talking to some moms with older girls and researching the dolls extensively myself, I came to the conclusion that they are simply Barbies with a monster theme; daughters of many monsters of history. For me, Bratz dolls area off limits. But MH dolls seem to have a better theme. Yes, some of the outfits are too revealing. But my daughter does not seem to focus on that or want any of the revealing things they wear. (The only thing she asked for a few times is "high heels" which to her are shoes with a small wedge. But she has wanted a pair of these since wearing shoes like that for a wedding she was in at 3yrs old).
So, with that, I did let her have the party she wanted. I was a little scared of what other kids parents would think but I felt that as long as I did my research and was comfy with it, then I felt confident in my choice. You know what? Two other classmates had this as their 5th birthday party themes too. :)

Yes. If she likes it then it's okay. I don't know if she needs to sit and watch the movie over and over and over but playing with the dolls and stuff won't hurt.

My daughter has a couple of the stuffed ones that she's had since she was maybe 1 or 2. She's now 4.5 years old. She likes the regular dolls now. She's even got some Monster High clothes. I even have a couple of them for myself.
She doesn't want to dress like one, she doesn't want to be like one. She understands that they are pretend and dressing up. She doesn't see it as being "sexy" or anything else. They are just cool dolls of different looking characters.
I really think people are making too much out of a silly toy and projecting adult ideas on things that kids would never do without adults bringing it up. They are pretty dolls to play pretend with. I grew up with tons of Barbies. Never made me want to look like one or think I needed to be unnaturally skinny or sexy any of this other silly stuff just because I played with them.
Let her play and have an imagination with whatever she likes and move on. Don't project adult issues on something that doesn't need it.

My daughter was 5 when she started wanting Monster High dolls because she wanted scary barbies. She doesn't watch the show or whatever, she just plays with the toys and I don't see a problem with it.

My daughter was really into them last year when she was 6 . Now she's pretty much over them . Some are cuter than others . Just get her a couple of the cute ones.I never let my daughter get the Bratz dolls because they look so trashy. Monster High are just a little scary .Happy Birthday to your little girl !

I always suggest reading some of the blogs and comments on the Pigtail Pals and Ballcap Buddies website. I don't always agree with Melissa on things, but she has done tons of research into things like Monster High.

My daughter is 6 and does not like Monster High because she thinks they are creepy. But she also thinks they dress inappropriately and are too skinny. We have never watched the shows, but a friend of mine stopped letting her 8 year old daughter watch them because she thought many of the episodes had questionable content (mean girl/bullying type things).