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

Clearly inanimate.
Although I do talk to them when they don't pose like I want them to pose something like "aaah now get up and stand!" and I laugh about them when they fall in weird positions. Can't help it I sometimes do take pictures of fallen dolls ^^
Most of the time I put them in my dollhouse, so they are good looking, but it happened more than once that they just stayed in their carrying bag for 1 week (or 1 month haha!).

 

Inanimate object... that I'm invested in.
I talk to everything... especially when I'm alone in the house. I'll even yell at my fridge door and say something like, "Why don't you just stay shut!?!?" hahahaha

 

I view my doll as an inanimate object that I've become emotionally attached to.

When I was little, I talked to my stuffed animals all the time. It's not because I thought that they were real, but because I needed someone to vent to. Stuffed animals cannot interject or talk back, so it was a great stress reliever. I sometimes talk to my doll, Stellan. I know he can't talk back. I just vent. I think of talking to my doll the same way I think about writing in a diary. They both work just as well for me.

So when I talk to him, it's not like I ask him questions and expect answers. It's like talking to a pet or a tiny child. It's nice to get stuff off of your mind and my dolls help me with that.

 

My doll isn't here yet, but I imagine I will treat it like I treat most inanimate objects - talk to it when it misbehaves or when it does something well (I am thinking specifically of my computer, for example).

She (and any future dolls) won't reach people or even pet status for me. I have three animals, and I talk to them all like they know what I am saying. I cuddle them, I spoil them, I smother them in hugs and kisses (my dog enjoys this more than my cats, LOL). I babytalk them without pity or any shame. But that's because they respond to me. You could cuddle and kiss a doll all you wanted but it wouldn't react. So they just aren't on the same level as a living being, whether it be people or animal.

That being said, if/when I have kids, I will probably not spoil them as rotten as I do my pets LOL

 

I think I treat my dolls as sort of an extension of myself. All the dolls I own are of characters I've Loved and emulated since childhood. Characters that I found a lot of in myself and whom I always saw as a part of me. I guess in a way I treat them as people first did with dolls: as idols. But I Love them so deeply and even travel with some of them so I'd like to say that they feel like friends too ^_^

 

Interesting question. I sort of skimmed over the many responses before including my own. First I want to say that my dolls are in no way, shape or form a replacement for reality, real friends or socializing. I feel like I want to say more on that but I'm going to leave it alone.

As far as how I treat them. I don't consider them my kids really. I'm kind of like their God. HA

I don't talk to them in the sense of having a two-sided conversation but I do sometimes say things to them as if they were actually real. Like if one of them kicks me I usually say "Hey! Stop kicking me!" Usually it's just a small comment but as a reaction to their presence or what they're doing. Or sometimes I'll look over and see that one of them is staring right at me and say "Don't look at me like that." But I'm doing it for my own amusement. I think it's funny but I also care for them.

Someone mentioned not wanting their other dolls to get jealous and I'm glad because when I was a kid I believed that my dolls and stuffed animals were real, would come alive at night while I slept and so I would make sure to treat them all equally so as not to hurt their feelings. I still do it. I know they don't have feelings. I know they're not real. I still feel guilt if I feel like I'm not treating them equally and I always cringe a little when I see someone call one of theirs their favourite.

I have named them and I do attach very distinct personalities to them and end up buying them clothes and items that I think suit that personality. I've been writing since I was 9 and I think that I've just given my dolls life by creating a character for them.

I don't think there's anything wrong with people who talk to their dolls or treat them like children. I love the silly posts a lot of people do that go along with their photos where they have pretend conversations with the doll. I think it's fun. I think that it's important to play and have fun even as an adult. I also don't think there's anything wrong with people who collect dolls and keep them on a shelf or in a cabinet and admire them but don't "play" with them.

The only thing that really irks me is seeing other doll owners judge how someone interacts with their doll. There's enough stupidity coming from people who just can't understand a hobby they aren't interested in that I think we should all be supporting each other even if we don't necessarily understand or appreciate the way another member interacts with their doll.

(I'm long winded...)

 

I think you said it perfect. "Inanimate object... that I'm invested in." - That's totally how I view my dolls now. I realize they aren't "real" or with feeling. But that's not to say I'm not a goofy girl that doesn't say "sorry" or "oops" if I bonk their heads or something similar.

 

i talk to Sven, and do baby him a bit, but i know the difference between reality and fantasy. i don't get odd looks so much anymore, which makes me happy. xD

 

I know the difference between a real friend and a "fantasy friend", but I have to say this. My girl, Kloey, is a friend I love her to death and even though I don't really talk to her much (unless shes flopping all over the place when I'm trying to pose her) I do "hang out" with her. We watch movies, I take her with me to the mall sometimes, we go to the park a lot. Yup. She's mah buddy But she isn't a replacement for real people.

 

Hmmm more of the inanimate object side. But I do fuss over them ^-^
my dolls represent parts of characters from storys I love, for example all my dolls (and soon to be ones) are based loosely after the characters from REPO! The Generic Opera. Zelda is like Shilo I nthe film, and the doll I have coming is going to be called Pavi (after Pavi Largo) so I do treat them like they are those characters they are based after but I don't talk to them. Occasionally i will say "stay still" when I'm posing themm or "stop kicking" but that's about as far as it goes. I am very protective of them though. I remember I went to a convention and a woman behind the stall asked to hold Zelda. I told her not to touch her face and stuff like that and the woman was fine with her. Quite a lot of people like to hold Zeldas hand, don't know why, but they do. I'm very paranoid with themm getting broken. :s

 

I talk at/about mine like a friend--but, know fully she's an inanimate object. xD I enjoy telling some of my friends what I'm working on for/with her, posing her "reactions" to things and snapping little pictures on my phone to send out. I will admit, I've also talked at her more than just to yell at her to keep a pose/stay still through a stringing process. : There've been a few nights where I've been horribly tired (but I didn't want to put her up!), sooo, while picking her up to set back onto her bed on my book shelf, I've murmured a, "Time to get you off to bed," or two. Again, as some people have said here--she represents a character to me (and not a character I made for the doll--the character was in mind and had been active in my head for a year or so? before dolly purchase).

It's also reflected in how much I play with her. Even if I'm just going downstairs to hang out and watch tv or something, I can't help but pick her up and have her tag along with me.

 

I agree. I don't have one yet... but I just met a friend of a friend who had one and spazzed. I found myself saying "What kind is she? What's her name?" Instead of "it" haha. I feel like they're little vessels for imagination. They can keep that as long as someone pretends with them... but once they become forgotten they are inanimate objects. They are for me, pieces of art that contain a lot of the artist and owners heart.

 

I treat Emily and the gang like I would most other objects. Now I've been known to talk to my dolls, I also have long stories for each of them. I take them places so I can play with them, and I feel like they give me the different expressions. I also except that something that is prized might take a life of it's own and I feel that from Emily. She's the one who I take everywhere if I can. ( I know that sounds weird) I know she's still a doll and doesn't have a life, but to me she is someone I can hold and talk to... even if it's a "ooo man you don't look good in that pose. Lets change you up." or "why are you giving me that look? Didn't I get you a new dress? Hmm?" All one sided conversations. Nothing more. I don't like having them stay put, that's not why I bought them. I bought my dolls so I could play, sew, take pictures, with them.

 

Inanimate object for sure! I do call them by the names I give them. I name a lot of things I own...even my PS3!

 

Inanimated objects (hope they don't read this..lol, only kidding) that I bring to life during play time. I goof around with doll people only about 'my kids' when I find goodies in stores but I know and they know it's only playing around. My dolls don't take the place of family or friends but let's face facts, we spent so much money on these dolls plus all there goodies I guess one could say we better be having fun with them

 

This says it all for me. There was a thread about 'why do people buy BJDs' a while ago and most agreed that it wasn't because they were lonely or anything, many just wanted a new hobby.
Truth is I bought them because I was lonely. Hence I treat them like my children because they saved me from doing stupid things. Call me crazy, but I'd probably be even more insane without these guys.

 

This may sound sarcastic but I'm serious when I say: have you thought of getting a dog or a cat? I also live alone but my cat is always there to snuggle and keep me company.

 

Nivan, is my boy, I got him because I wanted to start a family biased off of a story I was doing at the time. And my ex helped me pick him out. And I fell in love with him as a work of art. He's since become my closest friend, I spend a lot of time with him, my ex treated hers as her kids. So I guess I kind of learned her habits. I spend time with him, and talk to him, and talk about him to my friends (who if they haven't met him don't know he's a doll and think he's my boyfriend.)

He's my boy, and my kid.

 

I must say I'm glad I saw a thread like this, thanks for making it
And to reply to it, I have a relationship to them as if they were living things. I've always done that (as a child with my plushies), and I occationally talk to them, apologize if I drop them or they hit their heads, or something like that. My first doll is the one I care for the most, but hey, he's the one with most attitude ^-^ The second doll is also something I treat as a living creature, but not as much as my first BJD.

 

Much to my dismay, I'll have to admit that I treated them as an in-animated object. However, this does not stop me from believing each and every dolls have their very own spirituality (Like how Volks did) and they should be treated with respect, despite being in-animated.

Of course, this didn't stop me from randomly babbling random sentences to them when they giving me a hard time on putting clothes on them and so on.