Are dolls childish?

Either way, I don't care. I love what I love--whether it's childish or not, I'm not going to change myself or my hobby because of somebody's potential ideas about me.

 

My parents were worried about me when I was a little girl; I didn't play with dolls. They gave me all kinds of dolls, but I just ignored them in favour of doing something else (besides, they freak me out. I last found one on the attic that can move his face when you push a button. Aargh, it's Chucky all over. ) I liked to dress my barbies, but never played with them. (Dress on. Pretty enough? Yup. Okay, next doll. )
Half a year ago, I found a picture of a bjd and for some reason I couldn't stop staring. I found him beautiful and wondered if there were more of these dolls. That's how I got addicted to BJD. I don't find them childish at all. Cars aren't childish, so why should BJD be seen as childish? (as far as I know kids shouldn't get near them. BJD are toxic! )
My parents are all like; " You're 21, young lady, and NOW you decided to like dolls?!" Me: " Yup."

 

I think maybe dolls can be seen as inherently childish simply because they're dolls, and dolls are usually thought of as things little kids play with and dress up. However, I wouldn't call my grandmother's porcelain doll collection childish at all, and I wouldn't see this particular hobby as childish simply because it's so expensive.

That, and from what I've seen BJD owners tend to respect their dolls a lot more and think of them as people. When I was 6 and playing with Barbies, I'd give them baths in the sink with hand soap and make them "fly" off the treehouse with plastic-bag parachutes. But I couldn't imagine doing anything like that with these dolls-- That'd be rude and mean to them.

So... I don't think doll collecting is really childish. We're more mature, I guess, in the way we think of our dolls, and I always thought that it's really what you do with the dolls that makes it childish or not. ^^ Also, the cost alone tends to rule out any real 'this is so childish' feelings from me. XD

 

I've been a hard-core collector of toys and dolls all my life. My parents used to give me four or five Barbies a year to just /have/ and when I got into college, my action figure collection grew to insane proportions. (I will say getting into anime and discovering a whole new genre of things for that didn't help either. XD)

Dolls are just something I love and take a great deal of enjoyment out of and that I don't find childish. Given how difficult things can be sometimes, I think anyone who can fault you for something that makes you happy and brings you joy? Seriously needs to think about their own priorities and to quote William Shatner, "Get a life." Preferably not yours.

That being said, my "mother in law" is a main offender in the whole this is childish thing. You should see the looks my partner and I get whenever she sees us playing with our dolls. :P Don't care though because I love our boys and our cats (which she's also not a fan of). We're not hurting anyone, so I don't see the issue.

 

I don't think it's childish to own one, especially giving the pricetag they tend to be more of a collector's item. However playing with them and carrying them around all the time is pretty childish.
I'm only 18, so I'm sort of on the younger side of this forum, but even though I'm technically an adult, I already run around in bright colors and pigtails, and buy stuffed animals by the dozens for my own cuddling purposes. I'm pretty kid like already.

 

Childish? At these prices? I don't think so. These dolls are more than toys, they're also beautiful pieces of art.

Many of the things we do with them like changing clothes & making up stories about them are childlike, not childish, as our tastes have become more sophisticated over time. And again, the joy we get out of them is childlike & we all need to feed our inner child a bit.

 

I agree with all the points about price.

These dolls can't be childish when their price tags are so high. I subscribe to the line of thought that they are art pieces and collectors items.... ones you can play with. heehee

 

Definitely not. Would you see parents getting their 3 year olds such expensive dolls and see them get handled roughly? Never. I have tons of stuffed toys and whatnot in my room, and to me, they're my precious possessions; especially bjds. =D

 

I find that dolls can surely seem childish and often is viewed that way. xD; Yet, it didn't surprise me when I meet people in their 70s that still collect dolls. There are lots of hobbies, doll collecting is just one of them. xD;

I'm personally just one of those custom DIY fanatics that'll collect anything I can customize |D; They're just plain fun~

 

I been asked this question from the first day of my doll arrival.

I bought my bjd with my money. I saved it and worked hard to get it. When my doll arrived, my sister was shocked. She said : your not a child to have one! give it to your little sister.

And then my friend saw it and said the same thing.
I felt terrible and cried and tried my best to talk to them about how I'm interested in bjds...

Every time I take my doll out of her box they start this again.

Now, I don't take it from the box until they sleep. When they sleep I open the box and start on making outfit for her....

I feel sick of this... really

what do you think about this??

 

Check out the general discussion, there are a few threads like this, some of which especially on how to deal with people just like that.

I know it can be really hard dealing with a lot of people's reactions, since so many don't understand why an adult would want a doll. You just have to explain to them that you love bjds, and they're not childrens toys like most dolls. Explain a little about how they work, and why you love them and how much you can do with your doll.

These dolls are special to us, and sometimes its hard for others to understand. Make sure to tell them--especially your family!--that it really hurts that they say those things to you. Tell them that it's your interest and it would make you happy if they would at least respect that and stop berating you for it.


This isnt exactly "dolly debate" material, and this thread might end up getting locked or moved, but i really hope things get better for you soon!

 

Tell them to shut up. If they're your friends and family, they shouldn't make fun of you for what you enjoy. Everyone has a hobby that other people don't get, it doesn't mean that they have the right to make you feel bad about it.

 

I wish this was facebook and I could "like" your post XD

I'm worried about the same thing since my first doll is coming in, I hang out with the nicer crowd who are pretty nerdy-ish so they're just kind of live and let live kind of people except when it comes to politics XD

I don't really think I'm going to tell people besides my friends. It's not that I care what they think, but I can reach my limit and I just don't want to have to defend myself. I just don't want the attention. I don't want to have to deal with the attention, I don't want to risk it to be positive or negative.

My mom nags me about it like "we just spent $600 on something I didn't even want to buy!" or "so when you get tired of this doll, we can sell it or hundreds of dollars?". It pisses me off that my parents aren't supporting me. They don't have to like it, but really, when everyone else says the same thing and nobody that goes to my school understands and has one, when I come home, I don't want to hear the same thing. That sounds childish, but can't I ever get some rest? I'm already in AP classes, bombarded with homework and I've got tests to study for, papers to write, and I don't want to feel bad all the time.

But yeah, I've seen other threads like this, but I think it's such a regular trouble with doll owners no matter how much your immune, it still gets annoying even if you're not really affected by it and no one's going to make you give it up.

 

I don't get a whole lot of this from people I actually KNOW, but from people I work with who only know me AT work. They hear me talking to my couple of friends about it and they're like "And you're HOW old playing with DOLLS?"

My response? Bugger off. Not part of my discussion. I don't have to defend my choices to the likes of you. And then I turn back to my friends and continue my discussion, usually leaving them standing there a bit baffled and annoyed that they didn't get a good response. XD

I'm in my mid-twenties, so I really don't have anyone to 'answer' to about how I spend my miscellaneous cash, so long as my bills get paid, no one really cares. I live with my mother to make it cheaper on both of us, and she likes my dolls, she's even picked out a tiny and an anthro that she might like to have (if I can ever scrape it up for her) so its pretty awesome. She even finds doll-size stuff for me. But if I had parents that I had to live with because I was still in school, I might have a harder time with it, they might be a little more touchy about 400 dollar dolls. XD Its why I waited until I was old enough to buy it myself.

 

Everyone I know is well aware that I sleep with about twenty stuffed animals on my bed at any given time. After that, buying another doll (I have quite a few non-BJDs already) wouldn't even rate on the oddity scale.

Of course, a lot of my friends are also cosplayers, so they understand the enjoyment of sewing crazy outfits.

 

Gosh! I know how you feel!! I just ordered a doll without telling anyone, well, at least not my bf and family =x=""
My bf has told me off just cause i thought dolls were pretty T_T
I work in a shop selling dolls here.. and its super tempting >_<"

 

I used to horde a whole heap of plush toys in my room when I still lived at home, and my father always wanted me to throw them out (they're not dolls but it's similar). I said I liked collecting them, but he always thought it childish. He also couldn't understand why I collected so many anime figurines, like they were toys (which they aren't.)
He himself however had heaps of model train kits. Little boys play with trains, and yet he didn't consider this childish? But it's childish for me to collect anime figurines?
Just tell people like that to shut up, as posted above xD;
People just don't accept what they don't understand.

 

When I first heard about bjd's, I gave the same response anyone would do: Why would you buy a doll for 500 dollar? Just get yourself a barbie. I said it just like that, but I couldnt understand it why spend so much on a doll? When I looked online too them, I found out why, you just fall in love with some. Their beautifull, lovely and full of personality. Now I ordered my first doll my sister keeps responding with: And are you gonna play with it or something? Your 19, your way too old for this. I am 19, brought it of my money, so I most times just ignore her.. I can understand why she says it. But I dont know how too explain why...

 

When I first order my firs bjd, I ordered my sister's as well, we're both well above our twenties, so I don't get anything like that from my sister. I don't usually get, you're an adult you shouldn't be playing with dolls. Because I always collect toys, it seems the norm. My sister collects dolls, she has a bunch of Blythe and Pullips and Dals, so it's not all that strange from her either. Even the lady that sell sweets nearby (I chatted with her every so often) loves them. Mom just said that she didn't want the collection to get any bigger.

 

hmm.. no, never really got that, I'm turnig 21 this year, so I got my own money and can do what I want with it.
But my family thinks it's a bit weird cause I never really cared about dolls before.. but that's all