What little girl doesn’t like a getting dressed up or a beautiful party dress for the holidays!! Let’s face it, one of the most magical parts of our lives, when we were children, involved getting dressed up and playing pretend. While most boys frown and groan at the need to be dressed up, it’s quite the opposite for little girls. They love to spend hours getting dressed up in all sorts of different outfits and dream of being the star of a magical party. The holidays are a great time for dressing up!
Whether it’s pretending they are princesses, having a tea party or going to the ball, it’s a definite fact that little girls love the perfect party dress. Why is that? Well, there are plenty of reasons!
Playing Party Dress Up has Benefits!
Playing with clothing helps them develop
A girl’s mind is beginning to expand when she plays dress up (this is good!). She isn’t just putting on new clothes, she’s actually carefully crafting a new identity. This identity allows her to emulate all sorts of things. For example, if she’s obsessed with putting on fancy shoes, she’s simulating adulthood. Shoes are a very grown up thing to wear and as she walks around in them, she’s imagining what it would be like to be a grown up. As strange as it may sound, playing pretend is how children’s minds develop. They aren’t just having a good time, they are expanding their sense of being, which is no small task!
Motor skills and organization skills are being practiced
If you’re four or five, putting on clothes isn’t the easiest task in the world. If you’ve ever had to dress your little girl, you probably know how much trouble it can be to get a coat or shirt on her if she’s not interested in being dressed. Yet, when a child is having fun and dressing herself, she’s actually developing the necessary motor skills and organization skills. This simple game from the inside is actually a very complex and complicated procedure. As she likes to put on costumes and clothes, she is practicing the art of getting dressed. The best part here is that she’s experimenting as a form of play, meaning that she’s happy and enjoying herself. If you were to try and push her to get dressed, she would most likely be fussy and resistant, but since it’s a game to her, she’s developing the skills without any form of pressure.
Dressing up can be a form of social bonding
A little girl doesn’t get dressed up just because it’s fun, but also so that she can show the world how she looks. This is why they tend to put on fashion shows after they finish getting dressed. They like walking down the imaginary runway in the latest holiday dresses because there are a lot of social cues and rewards that happen in this process. The first social reward they hope to experience is approval and affirmation. “Look at me!” she will say as she walks in front of you, wearing two mismatched shoes and a blue dress with a red bow. “Am I pretty?” This is actually a very critical moment for a child, since she’s socially developing a sense of awareness at this time. The dressing up and showing herself around to people isn’t just because it’s a silly game. Rather, she is beginning to develop the social awareness that will follow her for the rest of her life. These moments can actually be crucial in a young girl’s life, because this is when you as an adult have the opportunity to plant seeds of a healthy self image, or conversely, you can cause damage if you aren’t careful. A little girl’s bid to be seen and be called beautiful is really a bid to be given a sense of self-worth. You can really help a child by boosting her esteem not only by acknowledging and affirming her, but also teaching her that her worth moves past what she wears or how she looks. It might not make a lot of sense to her now, but over time, the message will sink in and she will be far better off for it.
Imitation is a child’s nature
Another, very simple explanation for why little girls love to dress up is the fact that imitation is hard-wired into children. They are, by design, curious and interested in what adults do. They watch us like hawks and when we aren’t looking, they begin to act out the patterns that they have seen. This is why little girls can enjoy dressing up in clothes that look very adult. Instead of wearing the princess outfit, they want to dress up “like a mommy,” because as they observe what adults do, they come to certain conclusions. While a princess outfit imitates a sense of royal identity, regular clothes imitate a sense of parental identity. This is how children slowly come to accept the role that they won’t be children forever. Their desire to imitate is so strong that they will subconsciously adopt the desire to dress up like an adult, even if it’s only for an afternoon.
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