Playing with dolls in Year 8

[lpsandmore]

My DD is 12- 13 in April and currently in Y8. She has always loved role play and little toys. She's very creative and excels at art, not so much academics. One of the toys she was absolutely obsessed with when she was younger was LPS. The littlest pet shop toys. She would spend all her money on it etc. Around Y6 she stopped playing with them as the girls all got very grown up and it wasn't very cool. She sold a lot of her LPS and we never really looked back.
She's never really got 'stuck' into all the secondary school pressures and drama as 1st lockdown happened March of y7 when they were just settling down. This has meant she has gradually got back into playing with LPS. By play, I mean completely engrossed in it. They have got very expensive now and she has just spent £100 of her own money on a massive bundle of them, plays role play with them, makes role play videos etc etc. There are tons of youtubers (fully grown adults) who make role play videos etc and she watches them in between zoom lessons. She has some friends who know about this but is generally very very secretive and embarrassed. I regularly check her phone and can see the types of convos her friends are having, none are toy related obv. My question is, is this strange? Does anyone else have a not so little toy obsessed child? Should I be worried?

Good for her having a hobby which she enjoys.

She sounds very socially motivated to me - she knows which of her friends to talk to about it and which ones not too. Suggests she's really switched on to unspoken social rules amongst her peers. I don't think you've got anything to worry about in that regard.

My 14 year old DS will still 'play' with his action figures from time to time. Usually in bed at night when he can't sleep and I don't allow tech in his room overnight. Think he finds it relaxing

I honestly wouldn't worry what anyone else thinks.

My DD is also in year 8. She is currently creating a circus out if a cardboard box and has made costumes for all her cuddly toys so they can be in the circus..she often plays with her cuddly toys, especially since lockdowns.

DD10 does the same kind of role play with her LOL dolls. And my eldest DD was still collecting Bratz at 15. DS built Lego and Bionicles way into his late teens (he's 22 now). I think it's great when kids can use their imagination in a world where so much is geared towards screens and gaming!

Dd1 used to still play with her LPS in y8. She still has most of them now at 16, but rarely gets them out anymore (she does still have dinosaur bedding).

Dd1 always felt the social pressures at school and this was her escapism. It’s nothing to worry about and really quite nice tbh.

Dd2 who’s the same age as your dd hasn’t played with little toys for years, She’s currently sat on the sofa alternating between reading maze runner and looking at her phone, but on her lap is her big teddy. They’re still quite little really (though don’t say that to them).

I played with Fisher Price people until I was at least 14 as my younger and sister and I had created an entire world with them. Our games got a bit more grown up, they would ask each other out and have arguments and be in school cliques. I think imaginary games are really good. I also felt a bit worried however recently when my 12 year old on Yr 7 started watching Peppa Pig again but it was a short phase that I think she found comforting for one reason or another. She is back watching more grown up things again now.

My stepsister and I played Barbies until we were about 13. We knew it was unusual so didn’t talk about it to many others, and we grew out of it shortly afterwards, but it was fun.

If you have Instagram, have a look at the posts from Design Sponge this week, or minimodernhouse. Both show photos of the most incredible doll houses with unbelievable, intricate detail. I think increasingly people are finding comfort in these sorts of hobbies, so she won’t be alone.

It sounds like how she is coping with lockdown. I have a yr 7 DD who plays with figurines and dolls too and I also did up to year 8 too. There are grown adults obsessed with My Little Pony. I wouldn't be concerned.

I think she sounds fab. My only concern would be that some of the grown ups who frequent the internet sites around LPS and other toy types are absolutely not grownup versions of your lovely daughter and you might want to keep a VERY close eye on her interactions...

@PoppyLovesCakes a large part of this started when I deleted TikTok.
@MrsWooster Great point. I knew My Little Pony had lots of creepy old guy type fans, didn't know LPS did too. Will have a chat, although we keep pretty tight reigns around internet etc.
@hels71 sounds like they'd be great friends!

This thread has just made me think that one day my daughters will put down their dolls house family & never go back for it again

My god OP, I’d love this! So much better than typical ‘teen’ stuff.

I got my last (best) dolls house at 16- then spent at least 4 years meticulously decorating it. And installing working electric lights, dado and picture rails, and marble effect flooring. Cotton wool smoke coming out of the chimneys. Only ever had 1 doll in it, purely an exercise in interior decoration. Loved it, obvs would never had mentioned it at school. I could very easily start up collecting 1 twelfth scale miniatures again...

My dd aged 9 goes to sleep listening to peppa pig every night and would be mortified if her friends knew. My dd who is 13 still plays with dolls, admittedly not as much as your dd. It’s pure escapism and a creative way to play. I would absolutely not worry about it one bit. It’s sounds like it’s her way of coping with life at the moment-and what a lovely way to go about it. She sounds socially aware too, by not letting her friends know. It sounds like she’s got the balance right and a loving mum who supports this.

I stopped before high school, because I was terrified that other kids would find out and shame me. Other girls in my primary school were far older than me. In hindsight, I wonder what, exactly, made them so old at 11.

I was bereft and didn't know what to do with myself. I wish I hadn't cared so much about trying to fit in- it's not like it worked!

I ended up writing stories and drawing instead.

She sounds so creative and imaginative! A YouTube channel (supervised) might be a good outlet for her creative skills. Can you can set videos so they can't be commented on?

A woman I work with has a son who has amassed a massive YouTube following of his lego videos. I'm talking millions of hits on each of his vids. When he first started it she felt a bit embarrassed, similarly with your feelings that he was a bit old for it, but she is so proud of him now.

@RaidersoftheLostAardvark That sounds bloody amazing! Funnily enough I stumbled on a website selling these types of dolls houses whilst looking for mini furniture for DDs LPS house. She has decided to do D&T GCSE and I wouldn't be surprised if in the future she ends up getting into this type of dollhouse stuff.

@Pineapples3 Don't be fooled... we get plenty of back chat but yes, I am grateful that so far we have dodged the nasty parts, although I'm sure that's to come once lockdown is over and they suddenly get thrown into Y9.

My daughter is year 6 and collects my little pony (mainly g1/2/3 and the 35th anniversary retro remakes). I love it as much as her the g1s are beautiful and she loves bootsales and charity shops looking for them. We have had some brilliant bargains.

My year 7 ds still plays with his cars and his train set.
I’m 52 and during the pandemic I’ve been re reading a series of books from my childhood, I find them comforting in anxious times.

@SingingSands I am thinking of letting her now that she has a sizable haul of them. It is also really helpful with her DLD as Speech Therapy provision has been non existent in the last year. Might end up making that managerial 10% lol.
@OohKittens My DD's dying wish is for car boot sales and charity shops to open again!

I can’t wait for my little baby one to be old enough to be into that sort of stuff (if she is...) and I’m 34! 😂

I used to be toy obsessed. Can’t remember when I grew out of it... I still look at adverts now and think “I want one!”. So maybe I haven’t fully.

I think one of the advantages of lockdown is that it has been easier for children to resist the pressure to grow up too quickly. DD1 (also Y8) loves art and she spends hours every day painting. That's considered 'acceptable' of course but it's really not that different to your DD. DD2 doesn't really have a hobby and that worries me more.

My yr 9 dd has regressed during lockdown, initially it was watching endless episodes of Pokemon, more recently she has been watching CBeebies programmes she has health issues which she is struggling to come to terms with. I think the security of what they know is helping .

At that age, my (perfectly well-adjusted) friend and I made a whole extended family of toys out of scraps of fabric and role played a soap opera about them. I remember a sixth former watching us playing with disgust and exclaiming, "When I was 12, I was smoking cigarettes and going out with men! And you're... SEWING!!!" Made us laugh at the time, seems even more ridiculous now.

@piratehugs hahhahahahha! I'm very glad you were sewing.

I still played with Barbies at 15. I liked boys and make up too, but occasionally on the weekend I would get them out, dress them up and give an elaborate soap opera style sitcom with them.