Are dolls childish?

I agree with you! In fact, when is it decided that people have to stop playing with stuff and become a boring adults? hahah! My father has always called "toys" all those things that make you enjoy like a child. For example "Have you seen the neigbor's new toy?" - talking about our neigbor's new motorcycle. And when I gave him for his birthday a Volkswagen California model (he loves classic cars) I said "I've got a toy for you!". Sooo yes, for me, my doll and figures are my toys, not meant for children, though.

 

I think they are far from being childish imo. They are hand made pieces that an artist has taken the time and effort to sculpt. They arent exactly like a barbie doll that are mass produced. You also cant throw them around like kids often do with their dolls etc. So they arent really meant for children.

 

I dont think so xD When I was child I never play with dolls. I wa play like normal boy, but when my adult taff age I need coming out miself and BJD help to me to do that. So I think BJDs can by result of many reasons, experience in life. From creative hobby to some tipe of alterego.

 

Enjoying something isn't childish, like @Naisha a lot of things get called toys around here from cars to a new oven. It just mean you enjoy it a lot and toy is a positive meaning.

My mom fully supported me and she loves the bjds as well, she makes things for them . I don't remember anyone calling it childish, just thought it was expensive or weird. And even the person who thought it was weird look different to them now.

 

In my opinon BJD's give of a childlike essence to someone of all ages. These are also much more then just normal dolls like barbies they have a distinct features that give them life

 

Like everyone else on this thread, I love my dolls and they give me a lot of happiness. I love planning the character or look for the doll and making clothes and styling them. I did this with my Barbies as a child and I guess I never outgrew it. Creating all the clothes and props were the play for me--not actually acting out anything.

Hobbies and games add so much to your life--enjoy happiness where you find it--it's a very personal thing after all. If you are happy--then you spread your good cheer and joy to those around you. So, bjd's can be a very good thing for you and others in your life.

 

If it does I don't care. I love toys. I've always loved toys and still love looking at the toy section. I don't have any children and I go looking all the time. I like to think I've retained some of my childlike qualities. I think they are important and keep us sane. I still use my imagination quite often. It's good to brush the cobwebs off.

 

I approach my hobbies thusly: I work hard and I play hard.
If you are adulting responsibly in that you aren't neglecting your health, work, studies, family, friends, pets, chores, bills etc, etc... then nobody has the right to judge you or your hobbies. This holds especially true when you have a hobby that is hurting nobody and is breaking no laws.
When I encounter people who call my hobbies childish or get snippy with me about them I will quite proudly lay bare my achievements and point out that since I adult responsibly, they can just back off and let me have my fun.

 

a child-like sense of wonder and imagination is a very important thing to preserve! as long as you are taking care of everything you need to take care of in your adult life, there is no reason you should stop letting yourself play with things and have fun.

 

Nah. Calling people who play with them is pretty childish though, to me that says A LOT more about the other person's maturity than the first person's bjd interest ever could.

 

If it helps I'm in my mid/late twenties, I have a full-time job, my own appartment/car, and a master's degree. When I take my suitpants off and go home however, I play with my dolls and hop on Xbox Live lol. All "fun" things can be viewed as childish but my thing is knowing when to turn it off. At work I'm a "profressional" but once its time to go I can relax and have fun. Don't get me wrong I love my job and the people I work with are cool but when you work with children parents arn't really excited to hear you play with toys lol. However! I do have one parent who shares my addiction to funko pops so it just goes to show you never know =]

Your dolls are about what they mean to YOU. That could mean art, fashion, beauty, or all of the above but thats all that truly matters. Personally, I don't consider myself childish, only imaginative and creative =]. If dolls are childish then whats "adultish", getting drunk, being miserable, and paying taxes? Yea.... no thanks lol. Rather be a responcible "child" then a "bored" adult :p

 

I think there's an argument to be made that dolls can be an outlet for very serious art and creativity, even a professional outlet. But I find that less interesting than the fact that... there's really nothing wrong with adults playing, and the idea that adults shouldn't enjoy things is ridiculous haha Everybody needs their own hobbies, whether it's sports or art or anime or whatever. Dolls are just more obvious in their play aspect because of their connotation as children's toys, but tbh the bjd hobby isn't any more indulgent than other ways that adults find to play. It's like LARP or D&D -- those hobbies get made fun of for playing make believe, but writing or film-making is also playing make believe and that's highly respected. Different folks just like things in different ways! To be frank, I think adults just like to shoot down other adults because none of us actually know what we're doing in this whole adult business haha "At least I'm more mature than furries!" says so-and-so, who still doesn't know how taxes work.

 

We adults can't be childish in adult situations - but beyond that childishness is just carefree fun. No matter if it applies to dolls, games, fashion, art or anything else. I think that most of the things people do for fun have some childishness in them and there should be no stigma on that word. As long as you're able to act like a responsible adult in situations where it's expected of you, the time you have for yourself is your own. And no matter what fun means to you I think that most of you like to go back to being a child at times when you feel really safe and comfortable. Long story short - it's not the dolls that are childish but people. Everyone has that side of them and then we simply project it onto other objects in which we find comfort. So to me in that sense dolls are childish and I see absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

I always remember the little old ladies from my hometown that always had a few porcelain dolls in their living rooms.
I especially remember my grandmother who had nearly sixty dolls that she bought while traveling around the world. They sat in a position of honor around the trim of her dining room. I inherited two rag dolls from her--one from china and another from japan.

Barbies might be for little girls but fine dolls (including BJDs) definitely have a place in the life of an adult.

 

I think there's a pretty big difference between childish(self-absorbed, shortsighted, ignorant, greedy like a little kid is greedy, prone to outbursts) and childlike(capable of wonder and excitement, not jaded, able to really love things without fear). There are people in this hobby, in any hobby, who are childish! I'm not talking about any person in particular, but I mean it's a human thing; people get jealous, people allow the demons of their nature to rule them for a minute here and there. But all in all I think more of the interaction with these things is childlike, so excited for other people's dolls, so glad to get even the smallest new hair decoration in the mail. I can't see any of that as negative.

It has to be said, too, that so much of the time traditionally "feminine" hobbies like sewing, crafting figurines and cooking, are degraded as childish, while "masculine" hobbies are held up as respectable (say, collecting sports memorabilia or being obsessed with racecars). While I disagree with a lot of that false binary in general and specific, I know that there's always going to be some pushback from people who just don't want to look girly (as they detect girly to be).

I think maybe the biggest divider between something being childish and not is how you respond to criticism. Because, honestly, who cares what anyone else might say? If you can love a thing because you love it, if you can feel no shame in your joy, then no, you're not being childish.

 

I mean I already do a lot of things that are probably considered childish by those kind of people like I enjoy cosplaying and playing video games, at this point I'm just like whatever, I own this, I enjoy doing this, and if it's weird to you then maybe you shouldn't be talking to me. My family doesn't really seem to care about my dolls, I think after all the weird stuff I've done the dolls are the least of their concern. If they tried telling me I was too old for them I'd just look at them and wait it out until my meet with them was over because I just really don't care at this point.

 

Within my circle of family and friends, I am the only one who is into doll hobby. It is really hard to tell my family and friends about it without getting weird looks from them. Though no one has ever said I'm so childish for collecting BJD yet! I don't actually play with my dolls, I prefer to put them up on display and gaze at their beauty. They are truly a work of art and appeal so much to my aesthetic sense.

 

When it comes to bjd's, I look at them and think of them as an adult hobby. Children cannot handle these types of dolls. I don't see a bjd hobby being childish. I know older women like to collect dolls, and I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

The way I see it, BJDs are not childish. For the most part, they are meant to be collectables for adults. Is someone childish simply for collecting such a thing? No. Can a person be childish while also collecting? Yes, absolutely. It all depends on the attitude of the person if you ask me.

 

My advice to younger people who experience getting teased and looked down upon for doing this - Just keep doing it, cuz the older you get, the less you'll give a crap what other people think about it haha. I'm 24, about to get my first doll, and I couldn't give two !@#$s about what other people have to say about it, and to be honest, I'm not even that old, lol. However if I had been collecting dolls back when I was a teenager or still in college...different story. I was a less secure person back then and I probably would have been a lot more self conscious about it.

TL;DR Do what you love and if people put you down for it that's their problem, not yours.

Edit: Added note, there are people who I have told I customize and collect dolls, some people will initially react with "Ha, that's kinda creepy" But then I insist on showing them the dolls and some of the ones I've done and 100% of the time, they have looked and said, "Huh, that's actually pretty cool, it's neat that you do that." In addition a lot of people will react with huge amounts of shock when I tell them the price but a lot of the time they'll be like "hey, go for it as long as you can afford it." I do think I'm blessed with great, understanding friends though. Plus they all have 'weird' hobbies or preferences too so they can't even talk hahaha!