To buy 9yo dd a dolls pram?

[scousema34]

Dd is 9 and is diagnosed with autism and is also thought to have some learning difficulties but that's proving harder to get to the bottom off.

She mixes really well with her peers and is really popular but I always worry about the fact she's quite far behind them in school work and the older she gets the more this might be obvious in other areas.

She's loving the my generation dolls from Smyths at the moment and had built up a good collection now, tonight she's asked me if she can have a pram to push them around in. She's quite tall for age so we'd have to buy her a cheap stroller for a real child rather than a child's dolls pram (they are pretty cheap so that's not a problem)

I'm worrying though that if any of her school friends see her they may laugh at her, I can't see any of them still playing with dolls at this age.

Does anyone else have similar age dd's that can tell me what they think? I don't want to say to dd that she can have one but only use it in the house incase she thinks she can't play with her dolls but also don't want her being picked on for something I've bought her

Honestly, at 9 my nt dc and their peers wouldn't have thought anything of a peer out with a dolls pram, and even at 11 would have been pleased to find someone else they could share their secret without worry they'd get laughed at. Dc are 16 & 18 and I can't imagine things have changed that much.

My dd played with dolls until 12/13. No sen she's now a well adjusted adult at university and thankfully no desire to have real children for some years!

I played with dolls until I was 11, now I'm a maternity nurse! I think it's lovely. I once babysat for a family in a holiday house, and as it was still early evening with ages before bedtime I thought I'd share my box of seaside Playmobil. I broached it by casually asking the eldest (9) if she still played with toys. She looked confused for a moment, thought about it, then asked

'Is an ipad a toy?'

It's really sad to think how fast childhood is over these days. Hold on to it for as long as you can!

@Pickles89

That's such a sad reflection of our childrens lives today. I happily played with Playmobil until I was about 12, and still get a bit excited when DD4 gets hers out. I think I probably have more fun with it than she does!

OP, I wouldn't think it was at all strange to see a 9 year old out with a dolls pram, SEN or not. I would think she was a caring, imaginative little girl.

I love dolls and I'm 32. I stopped playing with dolls about 9 or 10 but remember wishing I still could but it felt wrong. I'm glad you bought her it, we should let kids be kids for longer.

I remember being 9/10 and wanting to play with my doll, I missed it after all the ‘baby’ toys had been put away. I wanted to take it to the shop but my mum was embarrassed that someone might see, after a lot of pleading from me I was allowed to take it but had to put it in a bag and covered over with blanket so no one could see. My mum laughed at me and teased me throughout the trip, I never played with doll again but was heartbroken.
Get the stroller if it makes her happy, if other kids are making fun of her then deal with it then but I doubt they will care at that age.

Playing with baby dolls was the last toy I gave up but I was snogging boys then and still playing with baby dolls - I guess the two do go hand in hand.

My nearly nine year old has really got into her dolls more than she ever did when younger. She has so many now and has asked for more. She still takes her dolls buggy out and doesn’t get any comments. At least two or three of her school friends got dolls prams for Christmas.