Playing with dolls

I only remember two dolls. One was a bit like a Cindy doll (though many years before) and one was a very pretty little girl doll. (not baby) that I chose for myself when I was ten. She had red hair and a peasanty sort of outfit. I had a dolls’ pram and a cradle, but I put the cat in them! I never played at being a mother, but I loved my own real babies. As a child I preferred my toy spaniel Pongo, and my stretchy toy monkey.

My granddaughter was only interested in taking the clothes off her dolls and putting them back on again.

Gds would have a fit now he’s 6, but at 2 he’d often play at baby dolls with Gdd1, then 3. I well remember him once coming into the kitchen where dd1, Sil, Dh and I were nattering, and asking us please to be quiet! because he and Gdd had just put their babies to bed (in the sitting room). 😍

My doll in early childhood was called Josephine,she was connected together inside with an elastic band. This would perish over time and Dad would get home from work to find me in tears and Josephine in a heap. A new elastic band and all was right again.
Both our daughters loved dolls at various stages in their childhoods. The youngest was especially fond of her Tiny Tears who now sits on our spare bed in her hand knitted outfit and crocheted rug( daughter now lives in Canada, unmarried with no children)
Eldest preferred Sindy dolls and now has two children and my granddaughter liked having whatever doll was popular with her friends but never really played with them.

Theexwife

I can clearly remember playing with Sindy dolls when I was 10 and my mother saying that I was too old for dolls now and had to stop playing with them.

I've been tidying up the Sindy dolls this morning 🤫

Apparently some people collect them!

I can clearly remember playing with Sindy dolls when I was 10 and my mother saying that I was too old for dolls now and had to stop playing with them.

Hithere

Op

Please tell me you are kidding me with this post....

If not, it is very disturbing

It reminded me of when the lifelike dolls that screamed were taken into youth clubs and teenagers had to see to their needs - it was supposed to put teenagers off getting pregnant, not encourage parenthood. I don't think it worked.

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/lifelike-dolls-scream-need-fed-14674697

Hithere
I agree that playing with dolls should never lower the expectations of girls or boys to think that’s all there is. But being a parent is also important, and I don’t think children should be discouraged from playing with dolls.
My youngest granddaughter, whose current ambition is to be a mum, will undoubtedly change her mind, but in the meantime, she’s learning a lot from her role play.
She’s the youngest grandchild of six, so the playroom is full of every kind of toy, but she loves her babies, she hasn’t been pushed in that direction, she just does.

my daughter loved cars ,she alwys had at least one in her pocket ,my FIL thought it very odd.Shes a great mum to her 3
My son loved all things domestic ,a hoover,an ironing board and iron and yes a doll and buggy .FIL was most upset at me for buying them .The worst offence was an umbrella...yes an umbrella apparently he would be bullied because the kids would all think he was" a wee jessie"!!
By the time he was 8 he was helping change wheels on his dads car and into cars big time,He is however the best dad to his much loved girls age 13 and 3

I loved my dolls. My favourite was Joanna and when my gran made me a new dress she would make one for Joanna that was exactly the same.

Let me clarity

1. If girls "need" to play with dolls to be good mothers, what makes a boy a good father?

2. Stereotyping playing with dolls based on gender limits girls' skills and talents - kids are kids and they play with the toys they want

3. Have you seen the dolls these days? LOLs, monster high, ... anything but "maternal" image

4. The sharply lowering birth rate has to do with women's rights and waking up not to depend on a man

I hope OP is able to see beyond the narrow and strict expectations for girls she expressed in this thread - women can be our worst enemy

I truly hope this thread is a joke and OP does not or did not ask her gd to play with dolls for this backward and outdated reason

Two of my granddaughters wanted reborn dolls one Christmas, and then their brother wanted one, so I bought them one each.
Four years on, he’s nine, he’s the only one who still has his boy, Sam.
Biglouis, they aren’t creepy, they’re lovely to cuddle.

Op

Please tell me you are kidding me with this post....

If not, it is very disturbing

I loved my dolls and played with them until I was about 12/13. I used to dress them in elaborate costumes (which I made myself) and put on plays for my sister and younger children. For me they were more a means of espressing myself and indulging in imaginitive games because they all had names and personalities. I was never interested in larger dolls of "baby" size - just small ones to go in the doll house.

I think that my interest in them was more centered around my interest in historic costume as I later joined the costume society and began to trade in vintage accessories and jewellery. I still have hundreds of reference books on costume
and jewellery and trade online in these areas.

As for large dolls I find them very creepy and sinister. If I go to an antique fair with an entire stall full of them I always feel they are watching me. Some of my American customers are crazy about large French bebe dolls and its not a love I share.

As for those lifelike baby dolls (reborn dolls) they really creep me out. I wouldnt even want to touch one.

Early Years settings often have dolls and soft toys for children to use in imaginative play and many children, boys and girls, enjoy caring for them.I think there is some research which suggests that this helps the child to develop empathy. Whether this relates to parenthood, I can't say.

Never liked dolls but absolutely loved my teddy bears and still do!

Dd1 was a real tomboy, never into dolls or anything remotely girly, hated ever having to wear a dress.
TBH if she were 10 or 11 now I’m sure some of the trans lobby would be falling over themselves to convince her that she was born in the wrong body.

Dd2 loved girly things and baby/toddler dolls and played with them a lot.

But it was dd1 who loves babies and has had 3. (Dd2 has none from choice.). And dd1 has said that if she and SiL were younger (she had her first at 38) and they had more money and space, she’d have loved a couple more.

I loved playing with my dolls, especially my Tiny Tears, but I knew from my teens that I never wanted children.

I loved my dolls, my girls loved dolls, their girls loved dolls. We've all been through walking dolls, teaching dolls, mumming our dolls. They're in an open Moses basket in the den. Soft toys and Teds as well.

I used to have a Victorian doll that sat on a chair; beautifully dressed with glass eyes. But then I suddenly didn't like the way it was looking at me, so I boxed it away.

I don't think there is a connection either. I was more interested in books and climbing trees too. i was given a lovely doll and tho i enjoyed sewing clothes for her (she's still with me, in the corner of my living room, with a rough stitched outfit) I never played mum. But evidence shows that my panda (also in my living room now) was cuddled to bits.

My sister however had the best time with our younger sibs, she played mother and teacher with the twins and no surprise ended up being a primary school teacher and a great mum.

Out of 4 grandchildren only one showed an interest in playing "house" at 4 yrs but now at 6, no. I have a treasured picture of eldest boy tenderly putting BigTed to bed.

They do all have devices and I do think its a changed generation and yes wonder sometimes where that will lead,

but I think that the quality of mothering and fathering in their loving home that will count most

I played with dolls till I was 14 but I didn't connect them with being a mother. I sat them in rows and played school with them. My mother made some beautiful clothes for them.

Our DGD asked for clothes for a Baby Born doll that she had. They were expensive, abd my DiL says some of them are still in their original packages in the garage, along with the doll. She only wanted the doll because her friend had one.

She is very good with her baby sister though.

DGS is fond of his soft toys, particularly a wolf. I crocheted a blanket and a matching pillow for Mr Wolf and he always brings him when he stays the night, even though he will be 9 this year and plays sports with his friends.

Callistemon21

DD had a large doll (German) that looked like a real baby.
A woman once stopped me at Heathrow Airport and told me off for allowing such a little girl to carry the baby.

I had that happen with my daughter as well. The doll was easily as big as a one year old and we were shopping and a lady told me how irresponsible I was and what a pathetic buggy we had for the baby. The Buggy was a doll one. We let her touch the doll to prove it was not real.

I didn’t like dolls, loved my teddy and dogs, always wanted children.

I don't believe that playing with dolls as a child influences the decision to have children in later life. I believe that the falling birth rate is due to wider availability of effective contraception, and to the fact that women have so many more life choices available to them today. Also, women are having their first babies later in life, pointing to decisions to establish a career, and perhaps obtain professional qualifications first. I don't see this as a negative trend.

Hellogirl
I loved those as well, and they were affordable with my pocket money.