3 and 4 year old girls have already outgrown baby dolls??? - Page 3

[Butterflykate]

I read something not long ago written by an autistic boy when looking for information on why girls have so much pink and boys so much blue.

http://poemsoflove.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/childrens-color-identification/

He was confused on why, and I found it so interesting to read from the perspective of someone who didn't have a social understanding of the concept.

But it made me think a lot, and I have to say.

When I was growing up we had all kinds of toys around the place, they were never "boys" or "girls" toys they were just toys. We shared most our toys apart from the few in our bedrooms, and even then, they were only not shared while in the rooms. Once they were out of the rooms it was fairgame! I remember we use to play a few wargames, it was pirates against sock paws! We use to take all the socks out of the draws and put them on certain toys paws and arms and we made many eye patches for the pirates. We use to go outside and make basis and all sorts of strange things. We also played with a tonne of lego, dolls and other things!  There was no restriction on pink, or dolls being for girls or army men and lego being for boys. And I sure went through a lot of different kinds of toys that I played with.

Its fine to guide children to safe play, and safe toys but to dictate what they should like and don't like seems wrong to me.

Right now with my children here we have a lot of soft-animals and dolls around. They have been everything from babies to soldiers, shopping assistants, princesses, princes, astronaughts, police officers and sailors... actually just a few hours ago when I popped in to see how the kids were getting along for bed, Miss 7 introduced me to a polar bear who just became king of a city made made out of lego.

Kids will be kids and like, hate, love different things. They will change there likes and dislikes while they grow up based on things they see and experience growing up and we as parents just have to try work with them!

[sunnmama]

My 9 yo dd is far more interested in baby dolls now than she was at preschool age.  I remember being interested in baby dolls at her age, too, moreso than younger ages.  It's crossed my mind that there may be some prepubertal biological influence that leads some girls to be interested in baby dolls at this age.

[swisscanmom]

I never played with baby dolls much as a kid, did not like barbie dolls either. I really don't think it is a sign of the times, just a difference in interests.

Funny as now I am a childcare provider for babies and toddlers, lol....

[onlyzombiecat]

Originally Posted by sunnmama 

My 9 yo dd is far more interested in baby dolls now than she was at preschool age.  I remember being interested in baby dolls at her age, too, moreso than younger ages.  It's crossed my mind that there may be some prepubertal biological influence that leads some girls to be interested in baby dolls at this age.

I think there might be. My 10 year old has ramped up the marriage/baby play/stories in the last year or so.She did not care about pretending to to be a parent as a preschooler. She has also never been into Barbie and princess stuff- preferring bugs, dogs and nature- but is now ga-ga over dresses, heels and very feminine dressing characters. She still doesn't like dolls. If I give her a doll she'll strip it and put the clothes and use the accessories for one of her animal babies. As we do not have tv reception and she often watches dvd's aimed at the much younger set, she's always had a mix of toys and played more with boys so I don't think it is all down to an outside pressure or society telling her who to be.

I guess I feel there are a lot of factors that could lead a child to be interested in a certain type of play.

[phathui5]

My 7yo plays with all different kinds of dolls.

She likes baby dolls that she can push around in the doll stroller and wear in the sling. She likes smaller dolls that she can play with in her dollhouse. She also has a couple of the American Girl dolls that she really enjoys.