Using A Dolls Pram To Bond With Your Child
The relationship you build with your child will last for your lifetime and theirs. That’s why forming a strong bond during your child’s early years and beyond, is so crucial.
Read on to discover more about the importance of parent-child bonding and different ways to form that strong, loving connection, including using a dolls pram to bond with your child.
Why Is Parent-Child Bonding So Important?
Parent-child bonding is essential for healthy childhood development and can boost your child’s confidence, self-esteem and resilience, which will set them up for life.
Noticing and responding to your child’s needs, whether that’s physical, mental or emotional helps your child feel secure and loved. This gives them an excellent base for building relationships as they grow and increases the likelihood of them becoming well-rounded, independent adults who can cope with life’s challenges.
Parent-child bonding is important for grown-ups too. When you bond with your child, it strengthens your relationship with them, which can improve communication and help you enjoy the time you spend together more.
Spending quality time with your child also releases Oxytocin, often referred to as ‘the love hormone.’ Oxytocin is an incredibly powerful hormone that is responsible for bringing on labour in pregnancy and stimulating milk production after birth. However, its role doesn’t stop in the newborn stage. Oxytocin continues to play an important role in parent-child bonding and has been shown to lower your stress levels, improve your mood and help you build stronger social connections with the people around you.
Different Ways to Bond With Your Child
There are many different ways to build a strong connection with your child.
Play
Play is a vital aspect of children’s lives. Taking time to play with your child sends the message that you value and enjoy spending time with them. By giving them your full undivided attention you let them know that they’re important to you and it also gives you the chance to experience the world from your child’s perspective so you can understand what matters to them and why.
Having fun with your child through play can stimulate the release of both oxytocin – the love hormone and endorphins, which are ‘feel good hormones’ that are released when we’re doing something enjoyable.
Physical Reassurance
Physical touch is another essential part of bonding. This is something that we do naturally when our children are very small, as we instinctively carry them, hold them and tend to their physical needs. However, it’s just as important for children to get that same physical reassurance as they grow. Hugging and cuddling helps your children feel loved and secure, and can also help them regulate their emotions and stress levels.
Communication
Conversations are a great way to get to know your child and form a strong connection with them. From babbling with your baby and toddler to chatting to your school-age children or hearing about your teenager’s day, there’s a lot to be gained from regular and positive communication.
Remember that listening is just as important as contributing. Active listening is a great way to improve the quality of your parent-child chats and ensure you understand what your child is really trying to say.
Consistency
Consistently meeting your child’s needs and having loving boundaries in place helps children feel secure and reassured that you will be there for them and that your responses to their needs won’t vary wildly from day to day.
This is healthy for both you and your child as it sets a stable foundation for your interactions and helps to build trust between you.
How a Dolls Pram Can Help You Bond With Your Child
As we’ve mentioned, play is an excellent way to bond with your child so playing together with dolls prams can help you have fun together and strengthen your relationship.
Using a doll’s pram to bond with your child also has some unique benefits too. Dolls’ prams allow you and your child to engage in a powerful type of play known as role-play. This type of play improves social skills and encourages empathy as children are able to imagine the feelings and experiences of others through play. It’s also great for creativity and allows them to express their own wishes and feelings in a safe environment.
Children can also use a doll’s pram to act out routines and behaviours they’ll have seen you perform as a parent. This imitation is a key part of childhood development and helps form a strong base for social bonding and learning through observation.
Children like to feel involved in what is going on, so using a doll’s pram to bond with your child is a great way to include them in day-to-day routines and tasks like walking the dog or going to the shops. This exposes them to many vital life skills like taking responsibility, navigating roads safely, budgeting and nutrition, all in a safe, fun, age-appropriate way.
Doll’s prams are also the perfect choice for parent-child bonding if there’s a new baby in the house. A new baby doll and pushchair can provide older siblings with a focus, allowing them to join in with activities relating to the new baby in a safe, fun way.
It can also give them a better understanding and appreciation of what’s going on. Even very young children will enjoy having their own baby that they can bathe, dress and push around in a pram to feel included.
Parent-Child Bonding With Play Like Mum
As a leading retailer of dolls prams, Play Like Mum understands the importance of parent-child bonding and the many benefits of using a dolls pram to bond with your child.
Not only are dolls prams a great toy that encourages imaginative play but they’re also a wonderful tool for building and strengthening relationships between children and their caregivers in a fun way.
If you’re looking to spend quality time with your child and want to include a dolls pram in your play, you can find our extensive range of dolls prams and pushchairs here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch or call 01772 395 207 to speak to a friendly member of the Play Like Mum team.