Adult imitation

During my studies of cruises as practice i identified
the practice of adult imitation that appears to
be suprisingly valuable for children onboard of the
vessel. Adult imitation refer to a form of play in which
children "become independent" and "participate in
adult doings". You can see from the image below
a child who used her adult-like handbag
in very symbolic terms when shopping. For me the
use of handbags was one way of constructing an
imitation of adulthood.

I just bumped into this picture, which reminded
about my dissertation.. This study was done already
in the winter 2005/2006.