I’ve long believed that children learn through play and, perhaps even more importantly, through each other. But sometimes life throws up things that are rather difficult to explain to little people.
Like why Nanna Nat suddenly has very little hair.
Our granddaughter is only two-and-a-half, so “Nanna Nat is having cancer treatment and it’s making her hair fall out” is perhaps a little more information than she needs just yet. But children notice things. They ask questions. And sometimes they simply need something they can see, touch and play with.
I recently learned about Cancer Hair Care, a wonderful charity offering free hair-loss advice from trained NHS Clinical Specialists. Among their many services and resources are some specifically designed to help children understand hair loss when a parent or carer – or even themselves -is having cancer treatment.
And then I discovered the dollies.
Each hand-knitted dolly has a rather clever trick: turn her upside down and she is actually two dollies in one! One end has a full head of hair, while the other is completely hair-free. The dollies come in a range of skin colours and hair textures and with little hats, wigs and scarves, giving children lots of ways to explore hair loss through play. They are knitted by volunteers and each dolly is health and safety checked.
I contacted Cancer Hair Care to ask if it might be possible to send one to our granddaughter, in the hope that she might find it useful both at home and when talking with little friends and carers at nursery about her Nanna Nat.
A couple of weeks later, a parcel arrived.
Inside was a dolly who was considerably larger than we had expected, along with a rather wonderful cut-and-colour activity pack.
Our granddaughter was absolutely thrilled.
She has played with her, dressed her, examined her and, most importantly, given her plenty of grapes and plenty of cuddles. The dolly now sleeps with her.
And I’m secretly rather pleased to report that she has a definite preference for the hairless side 😊
Perhaps there’s something reassuring about that. To a two-and-a-half-year-old, hair is clearly not the thing that makes a dolly beautiful. Or lovable. Or worthy of being tucked into bed at night.
There are days when losing my hair still makes me sad. I never imagined that something I had taken for granted for most of my life would become something I would notice every time I passed by a mirror.
But then along comes a little knitted dolly, with half a head of hair, a tiny hat and a two-and-a-half-year-old’s complete lack of fuss about any of it.
And somehow, for a moment, it all feels a little easier.
You can find out more about Cancer Hair Care and their amazing work here:
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