How Old is TOO Old?

I don't think there's such a thing as "too old", myself...

'Funny thing, though... As far as the culture-at-large is concerned the issue seems to be very circular. To Joe Public, dolls are fine for little kids, of course, but collecting them *also* seems to be seen as a perfectly reasonable hobby for older women... No one really batts an eye over their grandmother having a stash of antique dolls, high-end teddies or Madame Alexanders sitting around the house. I suspect that same circularity applies just as easily to our dolls.

The very young and the relatively old collectors aren't going to be seen as doing anything out of the ordinary when it comes to having them. It's only the ages in-between that are likely to feel much friction.

 

I'm 19, so from a younger point of view:
I don't think any age is too old in this hobby~ I see it as collecting little pieces of art and people never complain about being "too old" about painting collecting, etc. so I don't see why it should be any different. I don't really feel any pressure to give it up 'cause it's something I love so much and I'm not going to quit it just because people think it's weird and neither should anyone else feel that, no matter the age

 

Who cares how old you are? It's your business and stuff everyone else. No one is being harmed and people are entitled to do as they will with there own time and money. That is how I feel and im sure many others do, people outside of the hobby may not understand and look at us as if we are weird but im sure things they do could make us raise a brow also.

 

??... I'm not sure what you mean. Doll-collecting is one of the select hobbies deemed socially acceptable for older women to have. The way people figure, we're old and barren and useless unless we have living babies in our arms, so why not let us putter over child-replacements & dress them in frilly 200-year-old dresses, and just stay quietly out of society's way where we belong?

But that's all a moot point. Hobbies simply don't have age limits. People should just get on with doing whatever they enjoy, & not worry about whether other people think they should be doing it.

Kids are the only people I know who worry about being too old/young for things. And they're the only people I know who worry about being deemed mature/immature, too. But life will shake them out of these concerns fast enough, once they realize how much more-important shit there is to worry about. By the time they're paying property taxes, they'll wonder why they ever spent 2 minutes worrying about what people think of their doll collections.

 

I agree with Brightfires. When someone says "doll collector", even after being in this hobby for years, I still have the image of an elderly woman in mind. When someone says "plays with dolls", I still think of children. So, I believe the people in their late-teens to early fifties would be the group that wouldn't be associated with dolls (by people not involved in the hobby at least).

Personally, I don't ever think anyone is "too old" at any point. In fact, I think this is a perfect hobby for a retired person who's saved up money over the years and has a lot of free time. There are many hobbies that would be difficult for an older person with declining health, but this isn't one of them. (Not meant to imply that old people are all feeble, but the vast majority would be more limited than the average 20-year old.)

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I know way too many 30- and 40-somethings who are every bit as "status conscious" when it comes to how their peer group views them as any insecure high-schooler. It just takes some people longer to get past that "What will the neighbors/my co-workers/my in-laws/the guys at the gym think?!"-phase than others.

Most WILL eventually get there... but it may not be easy for some of them.

 

My grandmother whom I was very very close to collected dolls all her life. I inherited several dolls from her, and as such grew up around dolls. I love dolls all the more perhaps because of her.

I think there is no age limit for doing the things you love as long as your family and friends or at least what's important to you stays important and it doesn't become a severe obsession. IMHO.

 

I'm 20 years old. But I don't think I'm too old for this hobby.
Everyone chooses what he will do, regardless of age. Someone runs on skis in 80 years, and someone in 30-40 years of collecting toy soldiers.
And if people don't have a hobby - I sympathize with them. What a boring life of such people! imho

 

I am obliterating my opinion.

 

There's no such thing as too old for this hobby... or any hobby really.
As with everything else, as long as you get satisfaction from and are fine with that you're doing any age is just fine.
This 'too old' thing usually comes from people outside the hobby anyway.

 

As far as whether or not the Muggles even care that you collect a different type of doll than babydolls, fageddaboudit! All you have to say is "I collect dolls" and you'll hear "...Oh."-- it stops there. You can hear the doors slamming shut in their minds, because they're assuming you collect babydolls. (This is generally because they assume your life is a poor pathetic empty spinster wasteland because you have no children.)

If they hear you collect beefcake dolls instead, they'll just be amused, or think it's cute, or quaint-- because women aren't supposed to enjoy looking at male beauty, at any age, and after a certain age you're supposed to have no physical desires at all. (This is because people are stupid, which is why anybody does anything.) And if they hear you collect gore mods, they'll just write you off as a Scary Old Crazy Lady. Because this doesn't fit into any tidy demographic box they've ever heard of, it just doesn't compute. (This is fine, because it makes people go away faster.)

Cultural assumptions will eventually change slowly, via attrition, as generations age & die off. In another 5-10 years, it'll be a normal thing to hear "Yeah, those are all my gramma's manga, not mine... she was once a roadie for the Electric Hellfire Club, but she broke her hip and now all she does is paint zombie dolls...."

I wasn't talking about status-consciousness-- I was talking about that obsession with being "mature/immature", which you stop caring about as soon as real life kicks in & gives you its first really good rodgering. If it doesn't happen immediately, then it happens when you turn 29 (or, for men, 35) and you realize that you don't like the sound of the word 'mature' anymore, because you realize that 'mature' is the popular euphemism for 'old'.

No, people stay status-conscious till they die. My retired father is a racing instructor.... he says the Porsche and Lotus guys, in their rival sects, do things like scratch each other's paintjobs; the Porsche guys bitch on the Lotus guys for being elitists; and the lower echelons bitch on the Porsche guys for being elitists. These are, like, 55-year-old millionaires. xD Sound familiar? That never seems to wear off.

 

Personally, I think the maturity thing *is* a matter of status consciousness... It's all tied up in the same monkey-business of who's higher up the tree than who, and what the peanut-gallery thinks of each of them.

 

Anybody should be allowed to collect at any point in their life. Nobody should ever be shamed for a hobby they enjoy that hurts no-one. If a child is taught to take good care of a doll and their parents think it's a good idea, they should be allowed to have one. If a teenager wants to save the money and spend it on a doll, it should be allowed. If an adult wants to spend time on dolls, make them little outfits, and take them to meetups, they shouldn't be made to feel like outsiders. If an older person wants to collect dolls, they have every right to do so.

And what's more, nobody in or out of the community should make them feel bad for it. Shaming is a disgusting habit and people shouldn't indulge in it. Everyone has the right to do what they like with their time and money as long as nobody is hurt, and a collection of fairly-purchased inanimate objects is not by nature harmful.

There is no age at which doll-collecting is wrong. If you want people to respect your hobbies and let you do them without harrassing you, let people indulge in your hobbies without harrassing them.

 

I just need to say that this is the best thing I've ever read I really hope my grandkids can say this about me...

 

I think that, no matter the age, the more folks in this hobby, the better. (Except on limiteds release days. Then I would prefer to be the only collector in the whole wide world.)

I'm in upper 30's and don't have children yet. I finally have some disposable income to use to collect pretty things after I'm through paying all the bills. However, I'm still self-conscious of telling people "I collect dolls," because I agree with JennyNemesis in that if you are a woman of a certain age, people think your dolls are surrogate children and pity you. It's annoying to be thought of in that way, and I wish I didn't care, but I do. I think it's the same way they look at us if we say we own more than two cats/dogs/[insert pet type here].

Ten years ago, I told a coworker that I liked Japanese animation. He looked horrified and asked, "So... what, like Dragonball and Pokemon?" He immediately jumped to the conclusion that since his kids watched it and it was anime, that was what I liked. I could see the wheels turning in his head, judging me because, in his mind, I still liked "kid stuff."

That experience made me more careful about what I share with people, particularly in relationship to this hobby.

I think the general population just doesn't understand the hobby well enough to make rational judgements about it. Many still see it as "kid stuff".

So in a perfect world, I'd go tell people all about my resin boys. But we're not in a perfect world, and the general population still has biases and misconceptions about hobbies which are seen as slightly unusual. Because I am a woman of a certain age, when I mention that I buy "collectible dolls," I'm careful to mention that I also hike and kayak... you know, popularly-acceptable hobbies.

I do think it has to do with my age, however. If I were older, say, past my child-making years, I think I may feel differently and not give as much a crap about what others think or how they may judge me.

I'm interested: does your mileage differ, being a younger vs. being an older collector?

 

I am close to HfC[SUP]+[/SUP] now, and I am new to the hobby.

I never believed any hobby should be limited to a certain age group. If you like to collect and play with dolls that's fine no matter age or social standing. Same is true for other things you might want to do. I had a friend who's dream it was to own a Porsche once in his lifetime. He was embarrassed about going for it, because he was the only one in our group that was in the position to buy one (social standing issue reversed). My advice was 'go for it, if you can afford it and it makes you happy'.

I have to admit though, that there was a time when I worried what other people think, when it came to my own hobbies. I am past that now and I find it rather freeing

[SUP]+[/SUP]: (Half a f***g Century)

 

The point of a hobby is to have something that brings you enjoyment in your free time. And I don't think you're ever too old to have fun. After all, ageing doesn't change who you are as a person. My grandparents still enjoy the same things that they did when they were younger, so I don't see why it shouldn't be the same way in the future for people who are young now. In fact, I find it kind of awesome to think of a generation of elderly people who love playing video games, or watching anime, reading manga, etc. :'D