Reborn dolls: a cute toy or a danger to the psyche
A happy mother is walking along the park alley, rolling a stroller in front of her. In the stroller there is a cute baby, beautiful as a doll. Or … is this a doll?
It turns out that there are whole clubs and communities of lovers of such toys, like two peas in a pod, similar to real babies. Women talk, tell what new they bought for their baby, who will always be 3-4 months old, keep diaries: how they went for a walk, how they went to bed and swam … What is behind this hobby? Should a child buy such a toy? We figure it out together with Olga Volchenko, a psychologist, a specialist in relations between children and parents, a mother of three children.
A doll is an important attribute of play activities for girls and even for some boys. It allows you to play family, seen scenarios of people interaction and helps to create your own. Each doll is an image of a person at a certain age. The key word is “image” that develops a person’s creative thinking.
According to the psychologist, the reborn doll is a toy and helper for adults, but not for children. The first words at the sight of a baby doll: “How it looks like a living child!” And most of all, naturalism and the resemblance to a living person surprises adults.
By the way, such toys were created by adults and for adults – by artists for collectors, for use as dummies in children’s clothing stores. Photographers focused on the emergence of exclusive dolls, their popularity quickly spread among children. And now many girls dream of such a toy. The children’s need to take care of the younger ones also affects. And of course, the children are happy with the purchase, because it is so attractive and realistic.
1. Replacing the living with artificial
Still, this is a toy, albeit very realistic. It turns out the substitution of the living and the real with the artificial. Relationships, skills and abilities that are important in the future also turn out to be artificial. After all, you can do whatever you want with a toy, it will endure everything, keep silent. The little baby does not cry, does not grow, it is quite comfortable. Then do you need your own with tears, screams, diseases?
2. Devaluation of the present
It can be assumed that the next step in the production of such dolls will be the addition of electronics to them, the toy for girls will become a robot. Of course, automation greatly facilitates the life of a modern person, but at the same time, a devaluation of all living things occurs: a careless attitude towards another person (remember how when we meet we all say the phrase “How are you?” life is not important to us), we replace live communication with virtual friendship, etc. Think, buying a reborn, do you want to make your sincere, open to the world baby indifferent and alienated from real communication?
3. Substitution of concepts
Many adults experience unpleasant emotions at the sight of a reborn, because in the first seconds the impressions change like a kaleidoscope: emotion, bewilderment – is he not breathing ?! Only then comes the understanding that this is a toy. Mixed feelings remain mixed. And a girl playing with a baby doll gets used to this feeling of indifference; on a subconscious level, she has a substitution of concepts: a living baby or a doll.
Experts believe that ordinary dolls are much more suitable for babies. But when buying a toy in a store, you need to pay attention to three things.
Who made the doll: A rag doll sewn by a mother is more important for a child than a factory one – it is simpler in execution, but this is its charm. The therapeutic effects of such dolls were noted, they calm the baby, give support in difficult times. The toy should be made of natural materials, pleasant for children’s hands, such as cotton, knitwear, wool. But not plastic, silicone, or vinyl.
Appearance and functionality: it is good when the doll has body proportions corresponding to the age of the child. For example, children 3-5 years old need role-playing games, they repeat the behavior of a mother caring for her baby, so they carry the doll in their arms, roll it in a stroller. For children 5-7 years old, the role-playing activity comes to the fore: they dress the doll, come up with outfits, hairstyles for it, create a doll family. These skills contribute to the development of children’s imagination. And reborns are useless in this respect: after all, they are eternal babies.
Number of dolls: less is better. Ideally, one doll that will be with the child for all the time he needs. You probably remember your favorite toy too. Why buy dozens of one-day dolls while giving kids a one-day relationship? And most often a reborn doll is another toy on the list, a tribute to fashion.
As children grow up, they begin to be guided by feelings of rivalry in the children’s community (street, kindergarten, school). Then, of course, the cooler the doll, the more confident the child feels. Only external attributes come to the fore, along with it the attitude “to be real” is driven deep inside. So when your child asks for a reborn, ask yourself which of the above needs he is guided by and what kind of inner world he will be forming.