6/24/2023 0 Comments Catch a lover clothes benefit![]() What is true, she says, is that some preschools (or parents) might consider dress-up to be chiefly girls' domain and stock up accordingly on aprons or feather boas, inadvertently defining who gravitates there. The research gives no reason to think so, says former Yale senior research scientist Dorothy Singer, Ph.D., who coauthored the classic The House of Make-Believe. That's a precursor to all later academic experiences, like reading, writing and math." My son hasn't shown any interest in dress-up. And, says Barbour, "When kids substitute a wooden block for a phone, they are thinking symbolically. Not only do they get plenty of unhurried practice with buttoning, zipping and otherwise arranging clothing, they also strengthen their language and social skills, from negotiation and storytelling ("Let's pretend…") to problem solving ("How would you catch a runaway lion?"). In fact, studies have linked role-play to empathy: Kids who engaged in it were more skilled in judging how other people might feel than those who didn't.Ī rousing game of "zookeeper" also turns out to be great preparation for the life skills kids will soon need. Literally walking in other people's shoes may give kids valuable experience in, um, walking in other people's shoes. ![]() What are my kids getting out of this kind of play? Dress-up helps kids test out theories and arrive at the more mature understanding that clothes don't make the man (or woman). "This is a very common behavior," says Jack Maypole, M.D., a pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, and again, it's a step in kids' figuring out gender identities: Before about age 4, children may be able to identify a picture of a person as either male or female, but they may think that if the subject changes clothing or hairstyle, he or she changes sex as well. Not unless he's rooting for the enemy team. My own pom-pom-wielding preschooler has morphed into a 13-year-old volleyball spiker who insists her T-shirts and sweatpants be in no way "bind-y." Come to think of it, should I worry if my son likes to dress up like a cheerleader? Take heart: Many girls pass through these common experiments without a lasting penchant for glitter. "At first, they base that understanding on outward characteristics, and sometimes they go to extremes," she says. But according to Ann Barbour, Ph.D., a professor of early childhood education at California State University, Los Angeles and a former preschool teacher, this taste for ball gowns, tutus and crinoline is a normal development as little girls start working out for themselves what it means to be female. ![]() Jeans-clad, flip-flops-wearing mothers may well wonder how they could have produced a little Dolly Parton. Is this a predictor of her- gulp!-grown-up style? My 3-year-old decks out in so much froufrou that it looks like she's headlining a cabaret. For all these reasons, the iconic shot of a toddler teetering precariously in Mom's high heels is legally required for every baby album. And they're potent symbols of Mom and Dad, favorite subjects of early play. They're easy-on, easy-off, yet sport intriguing mysteries such as buckles and laces. (Pioneering child psychologist Louise Bates Ames called them the "very favorite object.") It's not hard to understand the allure for little Carrie Bradshaws: Shoes show that kids are now grown-up, and going places. When it comes to dress-up, shoes are often a child's first love. My 2-year-old is obsessed with her "magic slippers"-but not any other part of the costume they came with. Consulting experts and an alligator-high book stack, I found some answers. At age 3, my son, Ethan, spent two weeks donning a wig and heels to preside over his/her kingdom as "Princess Rose." Meanwhile, friends involved in furious eBay hunts for the perfect knight costume-size 4-were pausing to ask me, presumably the older, wiser mom, their questions about kids' fascination with dressing up. This wouldn't be the last puzzling transformation I'd witness around the dress-up box. "I need Alligator!" she'd beg, and I'd again fish it out of the hamper. When the suit got too dirty, getting it off her was like an episode of Man vs. At age two and a half, my daughter, Hannah, was replaced by an alligatorĭay in, day out, I'd find myself looking down into the sinister white-felt eyes topping the green plush costume she'd first worn for Halloween. Underneath the hat feathers and superhero costumes, dress-up play is serious business, teaching your kids skills they'll use for years to come. How wardrobe play can help develop team work skills and much more
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