Kalina O.G. Children’s toy and the inner world of the child or a speech in defense of “bad” dolls

Kalina O.G. Children’s toy and the inner world of the child or a speech in defense of “bad” dolls // Preschool Education Today. 2012, Issue 4 - p. 54-61.

This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

2012, 4

Oleg G. Kalina
PhD in Psychology, Assistant Professor of Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of Moscow State University of Psychology and Education (Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

The toy has long been considered an essential attribute and a tool of development. This article emphasizes great importance of toys, which allow the child dealing with “uneasy” feelings and fantasies associated with the development of sense of personal identity and independence. These include the “evil” toys (toy guns, Bionicle, monsters, etc.), toys with identified sex (dolls with sexual characteristics, etc.) and dolls with “difficult” emotions clearly marked on their faces (anger, disgust, etc.). Playing with such toys does not make the child angry or “immoral”, as some psychologists assume, but it gets the opportunity to get in touch and to develop inner fantasies, to symbolize personal feelings of which pedagogues and parents are often unaware.