PARENTS’ METAPHORICAL PERCEPTION OF TOYS AND THEIR VIEWS ON PLAY
PARENTS’ METAPHORICAL PERCEPTION OF TOYS AND THEIR VIEWS ON PLAY

Summary/Abstract: This article explores how parents of preschool-aged children in Türkiye make sense of “toys” through metaphor and how these meanings shape views of play and toy selection. Drawing on a qualitative phenomenological design, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 parents. Metaphor analysis was used to map recurring figurative constructions of toys, and descriptive thematic analysis was used to examine parents’ accounts of play and purchasing criteria. Parents’ metaphors clustered around three interpretive registers: toys as companions (affective and relational support), as developmental instruments (learning and future-oriented investment), and as commodities (objects evaluated through safety, durability, and price). The dominance of the “friend” metaphor foregrounds toys’ role in children’s everyday emotional life, while the investment and commodity frames reveal how developmental ideals and economic constraints co-produce parental decision-making. By connecting everyday parental talk to wider questions about the social organization of childhood, consumption, and the governance of “good” parenting, the study offers implications for early childhood education, family guidance, and policy.

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