Daughter 10 still loves dolls

[CobaltRewind]

So I love this for her and her imaginative play is so nice to listen to.

i loved playing with dolls as a child right up until I left primary school but obviously that was a while ago.

shes asked for dolls and a dolls house for Christmas. I guess I’m just checking that this is ok? 🙈. None of her school friends like dolls or even playing anymore 😢

I fizzled out at about 13-14. I definitely played with toys with friends at around 11-12 as a totally normal thing to do. The "too old to play" boundary has shifted younger in the past 30 years since I was that age range and many seem to accept or even encourage it right down to 6-7 when they're not even in junior school.

The longer children play for the better. There's a long time being an adult, there's no rush and the things that children move into- mainly screen based are not healthier than physical and imaginative play.

DS1 14 has evolved into more grown-up play, but for boys it is easier to evolve styles of Lego and into things like Warhammer. Female culture is less accepting of that evolution of play towards adulthood.

DS2 fizzled out of imaginative play with toys at 7 in lockdown. The total absence of social stimulation knocked him into a depressed, bored, deep loneliness and quenched his imagination. He's also not a reader for pleasure due to the impact of his (then undiagnosed) dyslexia costing too much effort. He gets more imaginative when he's happy, but he'll get lost in his own thoughts and chunter to himself rather than expressing it through toys. Both DCs still like their cuddly toys and DS2 likes fidgety things and sport. He's also rediscovered art after a few on-off phases. I wish he'd got longer out of playing with toys, but at least he is still imaginative.

But gaming still constitutes a lot of their zoning out time. Sigh.

Wooden, ornate dolls houses are collected by adults! An ex relative built an amazing one himself, hand built furniture etc too (dolls bought at great expense) certainly not a kids thing!

Your daughter sounds so sweet, and looking at it from an outsider’s perspective (I don’t have kids), 10 is so young! She will probably treasure it for the rest of her life.

I love that my DD is not the only one! Every year I think it will be the last, and then she asks for more dolls again and truly loves them. She knows that not all girls play with them still but I've been convinced that there are more that do than let on at school etc and going by this post that is the case.

Even if it's just for a few more months I would indulge it, you never know it may be on their Christmas lists next year too, I don't want to be responsible for ending it with my DD

Would there be someone in your family who could help her build a grown up dolls house from a kit? Some are very ornate but some are simpler. Or but a ready made one.

There are many adults with dolls houses, and collecting or making all the furniture etc could be a very absorbing hobby.

@Liv999 Happy Birthday Liv999DD 🎂 🎈

Did you keep any presents back for her, for today?

My daughter never played with dolls and I still feel a bit sad about that. I'd let it run its natural course and be happy she's exercising her imagination!

I used to run a primary after school club. The dolls were one of the most popular toys! The older girls played with them under the pretence that they were playing along with the little girls but you could tell they loved it.

My friends kid got dolls for Christmas last year, yes she did look a little big to be running around showing us her doll but it was so sweet. Mine (same age) didn't like dolls but was running around dressed as a cat. This year Santa isn't coming and DD would never be a cat in public but plays childishly in other ways. I know it is going to end soon. There is something about little girls that age that makes me emotional, they are just on the cusp of adolescence and all that goes with it. Enjoy what's left as it slips away so soon.

Love this - good for your DD! Get her what she likes, there is no need for her to have anything more grown up than what she wants.

DD in year six plays with her Barbies (dressing them up, putting them in their Barbie car and so on) almost every day after school, she also loves her Jellycat bunnies and has rather a large collection that she proudly displays in her bedroom. Long may it last!

Buy the dolls! My 10 DS wants dinosaurs - I've been buying them for six years! But he loves them and plays with them and id rather this than more screen time. He doesn't get embarrassed when his friends visit it's a non issue for him.

I had a collection of collector dolls until mid 20s, the Nisbet Dolls, which now sadly sit in our loft, but someone might want them one day and this was in part, due to my interest in fashion and historical costume, so dolls spark all sorts of interests. However, at 62, I now have four dolls houses (bought my first, a Sid Cooke house, from the long gone dolls house shop in Covent Garden, at age 25, as always wanted one and have followed the hobby every since) and it is a great hobby, but can be an expensive one (I don't count anymore!) - check out the Kensington Dolls House Festival on in London this weekend. I decorate to historical period, make items and learn model making techniques to decorate and build the houses, find it a great relaxing hobby and a great talking point from those that visit our home (they loved the lights!). She is not too old for imaginative play and how lovely she is not glued to a screen and long may it continue. https://dollshouseshowcase.com/

My 10 yo is similar but it's causing friendship issues. She likes playing dolls and shops and her friends are all on screens and talking skincare and Instagram profiles. It's so difficult to navigate.

Go for 1/12th scale for the dolls house, as that's the most common collector's scale and she'll have far more choice. 1/16th is for little hands and 1/24th is for those running out of room / limited room. This will give you some ideas https://dollshousedirect.co.uk/ // https://www.dollshouse.com/ // https://miniatura.co.uk/ - please also check out FB Marketplace, as often able to buy some very good houses for much less and part of the fun is renovating and redecorating them.

Did you post this a week or so ago?? If not you, then another almost identical post was posted by someone else.

I bought my god daughter the doll she wanted & some outfits, she was 11, turning 12 in the May.

her mum said to crack on if I wanted to as she wasn't going to waste money on a doll at her age & when she already had dolls.

it was a standing doll, I think they were called American dolls? . Something like the Livy/tilly/hattie doll from Argos.

she loved it. I don't know how long for as we played games/cards when I was there & I guess she'd outgrown playing with dolls when others were there. But I bought it because she really wanted it & it made her happy, not so she'd still be playing with it years later. Her Mum bought clothes/make up/toiltries. I don't think she bought her anything to play with since she was about 9. She knew who to sidle up too for toys!! 😂

buy her what she wants, not what her mates want (or say they do). Encourage her to enjoy the toys she still wants to play with.

I went 3 school years without a coat because I never physically outgrew the coat I got at 12 shortly before my taste and fashion changed. All I had was years of "you've got a perfectly good coat and you've barely worn it"
I was 16 before I finally got one that was age appropriate.

Imaginative play is wonderful for development of great mental and physical health and long may she expand her world beyond what is fed to her and isn't she just acting? Dolls houses are models and architects and others use them in a myriad of ways, like this https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/nutshells

Love this idea

Either way lovely to hear a 10 year old wants to play with a doll and dolls house.

My 12 year old nephew plays dolls with my children when he comes over every Friday to make my children happy. He makes up stupid stories for the dolls (like one of the dolls only make an appearance now and then because they are on tour following a band around the world😂)

At that age my daughter was old enough to 'care' for reborn dolls as they were more realistic.

I bought the ones with eyes open and she loved them. Looking after them was really good for her as she looked after the clothing and accessories such as baby toys and equipment and her room was tidy which was a great bonus!

It also meant we could buy real baby clothes (new and secondhand) which are cheaper than dolls clothes made specifically for branded dolls.

Later on when she was 15 she announced she wanted to have reborn dolls for her birthday and I was a bit taken aback but this time she didn't want the baby ones, she was really into animals and wanted an orang-utan and a gorilla one! They were fabulous.

This reminds me of when my middle daughter was in Y6 and loved dolls, particularly baby dolls. She was playing with Tiny Tears one day and asked if she could still play with dolls in Y7. I reassured her she could and she found another doll loving friend at high school! Both are lovely young women with their own young children now.

It's lovely, let her enjoy being a child, while it lasts! I was actually still playing with dolls aged 14 whilst one of my friends was already having sex with her boyfriend! That's how childish I was in comparison.

I agree that you should celebrate her enjoying her childhood still. It’s so sad to see young girls switching to make up products and skin care so young!

My DD (now 17) was still into Lego etc at that age and now even though her room is mostly full of clothes, make up and records. She still loves her old cuddly toys and they have pride of place on her bed.

When she’s ready she’ll move on from ‘children’s’ toys but she’ll have such lovely nostalgic memories ❤️

It's so sad that these kids are in the minority now and parents are apprehensive to get them a toy as they don't want them to be picked on by the other children.

I blame parenting with screens and I am really cross about it. For some reason gaming is seen as more grown-up than imaginative play.

I remember when I was told not to buy my nephew toys a few years back because 'he's only into gaming'. He's grown up to be overweight and very uninterested in normal life things, including studying, socialising or active hobbies.
It's hard to go against societal changes even though you know they are heading in the wrong direction.

I think this is great, mine are adults now but one of my DDs slept with Baby Annabelle until she was about 14. Used to hide it from her mates though 😁

My god-daughter is nearly 10 and I was thrilled that her xmas list still has loads of toys on it. Her mum said a lot of her friends want skincare and designer clothes. Plenty of time for all that.

A 10 year old playing with dolls isn’t at all comparable to adults playing or collecting them! I would honestly find it weirder if a 10 year old wasn’t playing with dolls. When I was at school it was at some point in Year 7 where kids would decide they were above things. Even though I don’t think many were quite ready. I think it’s very normal and healthy she’s playing with dolls, even if her friends aren’t. And don’t be concerned about the comments comparing her to an adult toy collector, it’s not at all the same. (Not intended insult to those who do, it just isn’t the same thing as a primary school aged child playing with them and I found it a strange comparison).