to think that these things are totally appropriate for a 5yo?

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My DD is 5 and a half and in reception. And according to my friend (who's 5yo is apparently 'not into playing', just monster high and drawing )

• Charlie & Lola
• Play Doh
• Tea Sets and Play Food
• Sand Pit
• Books such as Elmer and The Jolly Postman.

AIBU to think that these things are perfectly fine for her age?

My 9 & 7 year olds still love playdoh, sandpits, Playmobil, dolls, prams...loads of things that your "friend" would no doubt deem to be too babyish for them. In fact when I looked out their old Charlie &Lola DVDs in order to eBay them and they kicked up a fuss and made me put them back!

I thinks it's so sad when young kids grow up too fast. They've got there whole lives ahead of them to be grown up. If your dd is still happy with these things then don't worry about it.

Yanbu.

I still enjoy playing with Lego and I'm 35. What would your friend think about that?

I thinks it's so sad when young kids grow up too fast. They've got there whole lives ahead of them to be grown up

Why?

I mean Unless the parents are throwing away toys or banning things based on age and what others are doing then surely kids are free to play with whateve they choose at home or at school.

If they decide they don't want to play with something should they sit there and play anyway incase mummy gets upset cos they are growing up or should they just he free to play with whatever they want

I would have thought monster high was less appropriate for a 5 year old than a sandpit......

Not sure why 2D 'art' is more grown-up than 3D art. Where would we be if Barbara Hepworth and Rodin had grown out of playdoh (if you see what I mean).

Giles, if those kids just naturally grow out of things on their own then fine, as long as they don't then make other kids feel babyish for not doing the same. But in my experience the kids who tend to grow out of things first often have older, more streetwise siblings who influence their decisions. So they're not making those decisions entirely on their own, iykwim.

When my daughter was in Primary 1 she came home upset because a girl in her class had told her she was a baby for liking Disney Princesses. She was 5, for gods sake! Turns out it was her 12 yr old sister who had told her that and when she came to our house she couldn't get enough of the said babyish dolls!

Kids grow up and grow out of things fast enough; don't let other people make you feel bad about your child's choices, and enjoy the phase that your child is at now.

My 5yr old DD loves all those things. It is probably influenced by not having older siblings and not being around older children much. Apparently at play time her and her friends pretend to be in a pop group, but DD wants them to go on more adventures finding tigers

My DD is just turned 6 and enjoys all the things your DD does. Some of her classmates used to tease her and say Peppa Pig is too babyish but she's actually quite sensible and just says she likes what she likes and it's not up to them.

Dd has a younger sister not an older one. She is also one of the oldest in her class. Had she been born a few days earlier she'd have started school a whole year before.

There were no real influences when she stopped playing with this stuff she just did.

I suspect being at ore school and being one of the oldest there she'd just had her fill of nursery toys (well what she saw as nursery toys given what they had at the pre school) and was just ready to start playing with something new and started to get interested in other things.

Dd2 will be free to play with whatever she wants too. She ranges from tea sets and paint and water to Lego and mobster high dolls and barbie dolls. I honestly take no notice she's not encouraged or discouraged to play with anything. I don't care either way. It's certainly not something that makes me sad if she reaches for her older sisters stuff.

I also would come down very hard on dd1 for ridiculing anyone else for their choice of toy

I would think that Playdoh is for younger children, but every child is different. By the time DD was 5, she was into Solar System and Human Body encyclopedias for children. Shortly thereafter, she got into Pokemons.

DS is 5 and heavily into Legos with tiny pieces for 6-12 year olds.

Thanks everyone.

It could possibly be to do with the fact that she's an only, yes. And no, she doesn't spend much time with older children. Her only other child relative, her cousin, is 8 but she has learning difficulties and is still very into much younger things which mean that her and DD get along wonderfully.

I won't worry about this anymore then! I don't want her to grow out of play doh and dolls though

I can't see dd growing out of teddies any time soon though

I never did :o

That's the only thing that remains consistent, her teddies.

Oh DD literally calls her teddies her 'children' so I'm not worried about that She doesn't buy teddies, she adopts them.

:o

It's a good job dd is skinny or she wouldn't fit in her bed

They all have names

DS is seven and i have a friend who regularly queries his taste in toys/TV as being a bit babyish (she's lovely other than this so i let it go). he spent yesterday morning watching charlie and lola - roaring with laughter and repeating the funniest bits to me... up until about 6mths ago he was still watching in the night garden.

don't worry about it, children like different things - shock, horror!

Actually this is really bugging me at the moment. I was going to buy a doctor's set for DS who is 5.5 and DH laughed and said no that's far too babyish for him now! And wanted to get rid of his play food because apparently he's too old for that too! Okay to be fair DS rarely plays with the play food but a doctor's kit he would love, probably (it would be the bane of my life I think).

Somebody got me a copy of the Jolly Postman when I was in my mid 20s. Not actually sure why, but I'll have to make sure I start reading it to my baby now - apparently time is running out!

My 5 year old has grown out of most of those however they are all perfectly acceptable 5 year old interests.

I have a 6 year old. She's in P2 & earlier in the school year - her teacher asked if any families had any old/ unused play food, play figures, play house ie Peppa Pig, for the "play corner" of the classroom. As those toys were still exceptionally popular & tea sets, playing cafes etc was great for verbal, early writing, reading & social skills.

I also left a bag of books in to her class today that included Elmer books , they were read this afternoon. My 6 year old also loves Ever After High, Moshi Monsters, My Little Pony, Monster High but she also loves Disney, Frozen etc

I am 42 and still like some of those things! Ds who is 6 still likes a lot on your list. He likes other stuff to like his dads PS2. I don't think toys can be to young. He has a year old brother and makes games with his baby toys.

My 9yo loves my little pony.

My 14yo asked for a pile of Pokemon things for Christmas last year.

Your friend is an arse, not because her child doesn't like those things any more, but because by making out things are too babyish for children, particularly girls ime, you end up with precocious children.

If they grow out of something themselves let them be, but don't criticise them for still liking things, unless of course it's picking their nose and eating it. There are limits.

I think it's a sign of a confident child that they play with what they like, even if it's designated as appropriate for another age. But in this case everything you listed was appropriate for her age, so I can't see what your friend is on about.

It's the insecure children, IMO - especially the ones with older siblings - that drop things they might like to hang onto, because someone else deems it as "babyish".