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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think 10 is too old for a doll?

199 replies

AtSea1979 · 05/09/2019 21:46

DD has gone in to Y6. She’s 10. She wants a doll for Xmas and is still very much in to pink plastic things. I thought she would have grown out of this by now. AIBU to be concerned that she’s heading for high school next year and acts too young?

OP posts:
BlueCornsihPixie · 05/09/2019 22:26

When I started secondary actually a lot of my friends played with dolls, I remember distinctly my friend telling everyone she'd got clothes and make up for Christmas but actually she'd got brats dolls. She had an excellent collection and she was one of the popular girls, I think this might have even been year 8 so 12/13.

I think a lot of children still play with toys into secondary but just don't talk about it as much. 10 is definitely not too old!

I watched the first harry potter in the cinema when I was 6, my brother was 4!
Tbf I do think no harry potter is babying her a bit at 10, and if she's behind her peers in films/tv that can be hard. When you start secondary those are common ground topics to make friends.

ImportantWater · 05/09/2019 22:29

I got a Cabbage Patch doll for Christmas when I was 11. I wasnt even into dolls until I was 10 or so. Then I started to make my Sindys act out stories. I'm a writer now. How sad to place limits on children's imaginations.

Notcontent · 05/09/2019 22:29

We should be encouraging children to play with toys for as long as possible.

ClaireElizabethBeauchampFraser · 05/09/2019 22:32

Please get your dd a doll! I was very much like your dd, I desperately wanted a newborn type doll for Christmas. My Grandmother tried to convince my Mum that I was too grown up to be playing with dolls. Thankfully they ignored her and bought me the doll but not before waiting until I was away staying with my Aunt and when I returned, they had taken all of my beloved dolls (minus a family doll passed through the generations) and toys and donated them.

They originally told me that they had put the dolls in the loft so that my child could one day play with them, this placated me but I cried many tears. Funnily enough when my own dd was born I said I would need to get my dh to check her loft for my old dolls and silver cross dolls pram- only for her to admit she had given it all to a charity shop and lied about it being in the loft because I was sobbing.

My dd (turns 10 this month) has never liked dolls, she prefers puppies- she donated most of her dolls to a charity shop last year (I was secretly gutted) she still sleeps with five soft toy puppies every night! Dd prefers art and music- singing/ playing guitar/ singing.

They are only little once, please don’t shame your dd for wanting a doll, or try to force your dd into growing up too fast! She is doing no harm in playing with dolls, in fact it’s fantastic for role playing social situations. I am autistic and I used to act out real life situations with my dolls. My dd is also autistic and uses Sims to act out social situations she struggles with. I still think dolls would be easier!

morrisseysquif · 05/09/2019 22:33

MY DD aged nearly 11 still plays with dolls, she sets up intricate paysets with her sister and they act out their own stories. It is a joy to watch them.

ScreamingBeans · 05/09/2019 22:41

Is this a wind up?

pallisers · 05/09/2019 22:44

I bought my dds american girl dolls when they were 9 and 10. up to age 12 my daughters and their friends would often play elaborate make believe games with their littlest pet shop toys. What do you want her to be doing at 10???

HaileySherman · 05/09/2019 22:45

Not too old. Enjoy her childhood. It'll be gone before you know it.

Allthebears · 05/09/2019 22:46

@Elodie2019 I had something very similar when i was around 12. I was obsessed with the book A Little Princess where the main character has a beautiful doll with fancy clothes. I was a quite lonely (possibly weird!) only child with a vivid imagination and liked to (secretly Grin ) pretend to be characters from books I was reading.

My parents took me to an elderly relatives party one evening and I had my doll with me. I overheard two women saying how I was far too old for a doll and how ridiculous it was. Sad

I remember how that made me feel to this day, and never really enjoyed dolls again after that evening as I felt self-conscious and embarrassed.

OP, don't project your thoughts onto your daughter. Let her have dolls and toys until she naturally decides for herself to move on from them.

SandyY2K · 05/09/2019 22:48

TypoGrin

Not 19 ... 10 is still young

madcatladyforever · 05/09/2019 22:48

Ahem I'm 57 and have an "adult collectors" dollshouse which I enjoy making things for with rather unbridled enthusiasm.
She's on the borderline between childish and tween things but I see no harm in it. She will grow up soon enough.

Nonnymum · 05/09/2019 22:49

You are being unreasonable. Of course she is not too old. Let her be a child.

EustaciaPieface · 05/09/2019 22:50

@cassianandor I got an amazing Lundby dollhouse when I was 10. I loved it and played with it for years, although I may not have told all my friends that I did this into my early teens! It helped fuel my wild childhood imagination Smile I still have fond memories of it at the age of 47.

ReanimatedSGB · 05/09/2019 22:50

My DS is almost 15 and still has cuddly toys. Let kids grow up at their own pace.

LoveWoodenToys · 05/09/2019 22:50

Not too old at all. I was very into dolls until about 11

ShadyLady53 · 05/09/2019 22:52

OP, don't project your thoughts onto your daughter. Let her have dolls and toys until she naturally decides for herself to move on from them.

I absolutely agree with this. There is nothing wrong with a 10 year old wanting a doll. Wanting a BMX etc wouldn’t make her somehow better or more mature. I find this thread so depressing. The Harry Potter thing as well. Just try letting go of the reins a bit OP and let her be who she is...a young girl who wants to play with her dolls and watch Harry Potter.

Ohyesiam · 05/09/2019 22:52

No, not too old. And even if we all thought it was, what could you do? She’s her own person and won’t mature at a different pace if you told her to.

Durgasarrow · 05/09/2019 22:53

No, bless the child. Please don't crush her imagination and her innocent spirit.

Sparklesocks · 05/09/2019 22:53

Normally people lament their kids growing up too fast! Let her have the doll if it makes her happy. She won’t be into it forever.

ChocoholicsAsylum · 05/09/2019 22:54

How refreshing your DD would like a doll! Now all they usually want is youtube and insta and all these other narcissistic media apps, which will in time lead to poor mental health issues when older, I am sure of it. It also makes children try to be more grown up and not for the right reasons. Enjoy and let her be a child like everyone else has said. Its so rare now which is so sad. There is children very young now, who have lost their imaginations, because of bloody tablets!!! Makes me so mad!

Remember at Christmas children would get really exited about toys! Now its a screen or something related to the latest youtuber fad.

Sorry for the rant, its an issue in my opinion! Children should be playing with toys and parents shouldnt be worried about it.

YouMaySayImADreamer · 05/09/2019 22:55

I remember desperately wanting to still play with my dolls when I was 10-12 but feeling that I had to stop myself. Maybe society says it is too old, but I think it is normal and nice that she knows she can still ask.

Nanalisa60 · 05/09/2019 22:57

Please get her the doll she wants 10 years old is still a little girl if I was you I would be over the moon that she wanted a doll.

I still have my favourite baby doll from when I was a little girl. It’s the only thing I have left from my childhood and I think I will take her to the grave with me.

Felicitycity · 05/09/2019 23:01

YABU to start going on about Christmas

Knittingnanny · 05/09/2019 23:02

I’m 62 and can still remember my disappointment at being made to hand over a doll to my younger sister that had been given to me for my birthday. I was either 9 or 10, let her have one if she wants , it will probably be the last doll she has.

mindproject · 05/09/2019 23:05

You're never too old for a doll, or any toy. I know plenty of adults that love toys still.

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