Children's fancy dress: why do they like it?
Sometimes they just need to put on a wizard's hat or wield a magic wand to feel mysterious powers. Children can easily move from the real to the imaginary, and costume or accessories serve as a stepping stone to their creativity. Is it a parenthesis of innocuous fantasy, after which they put the feet on the ground? Behind their wolf mask or pirate disguise, in reality, children affirm their personality, as much as they construct fictional stories.
The princess and the knight
Disguises help children to highlight certain components of their identity. Thus, girls and boys make very different choices. The first are for example fascinated by the characters of fairies or princesses, who represent for them an ideal of femininity. By disguising themselves in this way, they mark their sexual identity.
Dress up to get to know each other better
Disguises open a play area in which children can test roles, externalize fears, express emotions to better tame and control them. There is not the same distance as with figurines or dolls to which they play stories, they become actors and more or less involved in their interpretation, identifying or reworking their role.
Thank you to Anne Bacus, doctor in psychology and psychotherapist, author of Your child from 1 to 3 years old and Your child from 3 to 6 years old (ed Marabout), as well as to the Interlude Bastide games library in Bordeaux.
The princess and the knight
Disguises help children to highlight certain components of their identity. Thus, girls and boys make very different choices. The first are for example fascinated by the characters of fairies or princesses, who represent for them an ideal of femininity. By disguising themselves in this way, they mark their sexual identity.
Dress up to get to know each other better
Disguises open a play area in which children can test roles, externalize fears, express emotions to better tame and control them. There is not the same distance as with figurines or dolls to which they play stories, they become actors and more or less involved in their interpretation, identifying or reworking their role.
Thank you to Anne Bacus, doctor in psychology and psychotherapist, author of Your child from 1 to 3 years old and Your child from 3 to 6 years old (ed Marabout), as well as to the Interlude Bastide games library in Bordeaux.
