My husband thought I was weird at first.  There I was, a new mom with a baby boy, and I was picking out a baby doll for him.  He never outright said anything negative about it, but I could tell by his hesitation and slight resistance that he figured a brand new truck or a stick horse would be a more appropriate toy for our son.  I couldn’t have disagreed with that idea more. 

By the time our second son was born, my husband had already seen the relevance to the baby doll purchase.  Dolls provide children with an outlet for non-threatening, interactive, pretend play.  By pretending that they are a Mommy or a Daddy, children can role play different situations and learn how the world “works”.  Daddy might cook.  Mommy may go to work.   Someone is taking out the trash.  Someone is cleaning up the toys. The baby needs a bath and teeth brushed.  Mommies and Daddies help.  Children can practice routines that they experience in their own lives: bedtime, mealtime, getting ready for school or daycare, and even playing with other children. 

Dolls are especially important in helping young children adapt to younger children in the family.  At a time when the child may be feeling a bit left out of all the hullabaloo surrounding the new baby, the baby doll can give the older child a chance to take care of a “newborn” without fear of failure or harm and in a positive and loving way.  They can mimick Mommy and Daddy’s role in taking care of the newborn and see how much work goes into taking care of a baby.

Children who are overly shy can branch out and explore in a “safety net” relationship when they befriend a doll.  They can learn how to interact with other children and role play different situations that may be fearful to them.  Dolls are a wonderful tool to use when trying to figure out what may be troubling a young child; young children are often more apt to talk to an inanimate object, such as a doll, than a grown up.

WonderBrains offers a wonderful line of dolls for both boys and girls.  new dolls on site and the importance of interactive, pretend play in a child’s growth and development, both boys and girls.  HABA brand dolls are soft cloth dolls from 12 inches to 15 inches and are made in Germany.  They are all safe for children ages 18 months and up.  Their line even includes boy dolls as well!  WonderBrains carries a variety of clothing and accessories that are perfect with the HABA line of dolls.

When you are preparing for the upcoming holiday season, be sure that the children in your life have a doll.  It is a wonderful tool for growing and learning as well as a wonderful toy!

We were on our way home from our restaurant of choice (because they have an indoor play yard) with the kids one night, when our 2 year old son started shouting in a desperate voice, “DAD!  DAD!!!!”  Our immediate response was to find out what was so distressing that warranted a call reserved only for blood-related injuries.

As it turns out, the kids’ meal toys were being put to good use as pretend play was abounding in the back seat.  My husband and I were reproached for interrupting the “show”.  And, once we squared away that we were, indeed, not needed at the moment and could continue the drive home, all was right in the back seat again.

Pretend Play is one of the benchmarks of toddlerhood.  For their entire lives up until this point, children focus mainly on how toys work and how they feel/taste/smell/sound/look.  But, somewhere around the time that language acquisition explodes and children discover their vocal capabilities, they find that they can CREATE voice.  They can create many voices.  And, they can manipulate the course of events in a new world called imagination.

The thought processes involved in engaging in pretend play are phenomenal.  Not only is the child creating a character in their mind, but they are transferring that mental information into concrete action.  Many of these scenarios stem from real-life events or what they experience through external stimulation (books, TV, plays, even people-watching in a park). Sometimes, though, they are completely created off the cuff by the child.

How amazing it is to remember a few months ago where our child was happy to bang his belongings into the back seat window, leaving us with the fear of losing the window - and now?  Now he’s creating his own little world with his own mind, learning how the real world works and how things interact with each other.  He can safely try out newly acquired words and phrases.  And, he is using higher-order thinking by representing one concept with an object.

Next time you “catch” your child in one of these imaginary worlds, step back and watch the wonder of the human brain at work.  Pretending is definitely more than its cracked up to be!