Treat dolls like children, friend, or simply just as an inanimate object?

i treat my doll Momo as a friend she represents a character i have in a book i'm currently writing and she has her own personality and likes and dislikes

 

Personally I regard my dolls as inanimate objects. I will fuss over them and play with them when I have the time, but I do not see it as absolutely necessary to dress them every day and get them ready for bed every night and such. However, I will do that occasionally. I also do see it as okay to talk to your dolls from time to time since I often find myself talking to inanimate objects out of boredom, but I know that the objects will not and cannot respond.

 

I personally treat my dolls like inanimate objects but also some times like children in the sense that you have to care for them

 

I would they were my children than again I also treat my figures that way. I do voices for them in my head. Make stories and even give them personality traits. But in the end I know they are not alive. They will never response to me.

 

I talk to everything. Mainly when things don't do what I want them to do. I yell at my cellphone that it should shut up, I shout at my computer that it shouldn't decide things on it's own, I curse vedgetables that fall on the floor and tell my rabbit to move aside because that's MY place on the couch.
So of course, I also talk to my dolls. It's not like I hold whole conversations with them, but I do tell them to sit still, assure them that they will look cute once I'm done with their hair and clothes, and thank them after a photoshoot.
Of course it's nuts, but I can't help it. I have a tendency to accredit personalities to any object, especially when it has eyes of some sort (this also goes for the headlights of cars, for instance).

However, I don't treat them a children. More a bit like tiny friends. Be it friends that live in my house and that I have to take care of. And that don't care if they sit on the same place for days. Without anything to eat. Staring at the same miniature bookpage until it's bedtime and I take the stuff out of their hands and drop a cloth over their laps for the night (I don't feel like putting them into actual beds, but I still want to cover them up a little).

So basicly I treat them, well, like children treat their stuffed animals.

 

Well... for me, it's more like I am the goddess of their universe. Cause I pretty much created them, rule them, and any decision I make regarding them is final.

 

...And they didn't start a revolution? Mine form a rebellion all the time!

 

I can talk to dolls but only in normal tone.. a friend to me talked to one of my old doll with a babyvoice and god my soul felt like cutted with five hundred knives and crumbled to dust, personaly I hate when people talk like that it sounds so retared.... to babies ok

 

I treat my partner's as friends. I imagine I'll treat my own the same once he decides to arrive.

 

I'm more to the inanimate object side. Kind of.
I see them as living things but sort of not as living things at the same time.
I don't see them as kids or pets but I talk to the same way as my cats E.g. when my cats do something cute I'll say like "Aw you look cute like that" and I'm the same with my dolls.

 

I totally agree with this. I don't think of my dolls in the same way I think of living, breathing children, but mine are my "brain children" as well. In my imagination, the characters are alive, even though they are inanimate dolls in the physical world. I also cuddle my dolls and "talk" to them on occasion too, but they're never replacements for human companionship or even animal companionship. haha I'm one of those people who talks to their dog, so yeah... My dolls are important to me and I'm verrryyy attached to them, but they're not good conversationalists. lol

 

I talk to my dolls all the time, but then again I talk with everything (computer, phone, pencils, food, you name it). I just generally like hearing the sound of my own voice when I'm alone (not quite like it sounds, I'm just not comfortable in silence), I have conversations with my characters - my doll and those that will become dolls when I have the money - wherever and whenever, but it's not the doll as such that I consider being alive. They're manifestations of characters I have created, and that I consider being very real, so it just makes sense that I hold conversations with them on occasion, doesn't it? Well, it does to me, anyway
So to me they are friends, I guess... inanimate objects, but still friends.

 

I am not ashamed to admit, that I treat my dolls like my children. And so what, it's my hobby and my life!

My friends know by now that when I mention my "daughter", I am speaking of my doll and they accept it. On the other hand, my mother tells me that it's rather insane, and my father thinks that its okay in moderation.

I talk to them, but not really to hold conversations, if that makes sense? More like, if I see someone's hair messed up I would say, "What have you been doing?" But never really a, "Hey, how are you today?...Oh, that's great!" type of conversation.

But yes, I know deep down inside that they are inanimate objects, but I like to treat them like they are not.

 

I love some of my dolls dearly.
And still they are inanimate objects to me.
Ambiguous? It works well for me.

 

They're a bit of children, friends, and pieces of myself. I have plenty of inanimate objects around my house, but I never have the urge to talk to, hold, play with, dress, etc, say... my dishes. I know all about them, they know all about me. Some people might say I'm nuttier than a fruitcake, but - while I do not think they are alive in the way a person, dog, cat, and so on is - I see and feel a spark of *something* in each of them. Yes, I know, that's because I put it there... but it's there nonetheless. And I respond to that.

I will never have kids, mostly because I have a deep aversion to children, and also because I freely admit I am selfish about my time and I don't want something needy depending on me. So, my resin kiddos give me an outlet.

 

i see them more like my ocs than just simple inanimate dolls, because of that reason alone they are special to me, otherwise i would have probably never bought one, because of the price, or if i had, she'd be sitting behind glass, like all my other collectibles

 

I'm not ashamed to admit that I treat one of my dolls (kyoshi, DOD Zen) as my child. I know the difference between reality and fantasy :P but this doll is so precious to me, I can't even express the feelings I have for him! when I see him I just want to hug him and he makes me immensely happy. I dress him and treat him like I would dress or treat my son. If something ever happens to him, I think I might go crazy! he's a basic mold but replacement would not be an option because I've seen another DOD zen dolls and never felt nothing for them, plus kyoshi is an old mold and his beautiful skin color is very different to the new pinkish skin from DOD. Mine is unique in my eyes.

Just for the record, I don't have kids and I can't have kids :[ I always wanted to have a boy but I know I will never have one. I think I'm transferring those feelings to kyoshi and for now, he's my only child.

The rest of my dolls are just pieces of art that inspire me to paint or create characters.

Call me crazy if you want, I'm happy this way!

 

Somewhere in the middle, for me. They're not merely inanimate objects, because I would have no real bond to them, and also because they have such a strong, dark presence, not just emotionally but physically. I KNOW that they're just hunks of plastic, but somehow I don't FEEL it, and so I can't treat them as mere things.

At the same time, they're not like children or pets. If I don't feel like playing with them, I don't have to. For me, they're the perfect mix of emotional bond and physical aloofness

 

I'm on the border between 'friend' and 'inanimate object'. My kids represent characters to me, and I talk to my characters frequently, even if I don't have a doll for them. My dolls sit around a lot, but I like to take them down and have them with me, as sort of companions. I've always been the kind of guy who likes to talk to things. I get lonely a lot, so talking to myself happens a lot... it's easier to have something to talk at instead.

So, short of it, I treat them as companions but sometimes they're just inanimate objects xD

Edit: My DOC Zen is especially special... My feelings for him are pretty much what Yumi~ described!
Funny that it's the same doll.

 

I treat my dolls as inanimate objects. I like to see them and play with them (change their clothes, wigs, eyes, etc) when I can, but for the most part they sit on my shelf and look pretty.