Would you let your kids play with your dolls?

I was thinking of you and your mom when I saw this thread! I met you guys at a meetup several weeks ago, you're both so sweet and your mom was adorable. I wish my mom was into dolls!

 

Though I don't have any children myself, I'd say that they can be used to teach children the delicacy of certain objects and to be more careful

 

I got into ball-jointed dolls because I thought I was never going to have children of my own and I craved something that I could fuss over and express myself through. I apologize if this might sound creepy. I never meant them to be a replacement for a child so please keep that in mind.

But, low and behold, miracles do exist and despite what several medical specialists told me I am now the proud mother of a 2,5 year old son. He loves my dolls so much. He already 'plays' with them as if they were his. He brushes their hair and fusses over their clothing and enjoys moving their limbs to make them sit or stand or kneel. I know some might cringe over letting my son play with such expensive works of art but he is so very careful with them. Children are pretty clever really, if they see you handle items with great care they usually figure out that they need to be careful as well before you can even tell them to be. It's great knowing that for now I can enjoy the hobby together with my little boy. He makes me proud each and every day.

I'll be the first to admit that there is practically no free time to spare anymore to actually be productive with my dolls though. However, I'd much rather have my son with me 24/7 than have more spare time to excercise my hobbies. I understand why some parents might complain but I choose not to because the combination of my little boy and my hobby give me more pleasure than the hobby alone would have ever provided. I hope that when he grows up he'll never have to deal with the stereotype that dolls are for girls and if he does get confronted about it that he'll be strong enough to stand up for himself and honestly believes that each individual is free to decide what they do or do not like despite their gender.

TLDR: Young toddler that loves to play with his mommy's BJD collection and a proud mommy that her son loves dolls and treats them well.

 

My son was 9 when I ordered my first doll, and he was supportive and interested, though very hands off. Over the years, he has helped me choose between sculpts and cheered on my sad sewing projects. After our family dog died, we even worked on a doll together to help us heal, creating a character and aesthetic that reminded us of our dear River.

There’s been a lot of eye rolling along the way—especially now that he’s a teenager—but whenever he’s been part of my doll hobby, it’s been a good thing.

 

I also am the daughter of a doll collector. She collects antique dolls, fashion dolls, folk dolls, pretty much anything that she liked, other antique toys too. Her favorite was Lenci felt dolls. She doesnt have any asain balljoint dolls but she likes to see what i do with mine. When i was growing up She had her collection on shelves aroud the house and she always said toys were to be played with, we just had to ask and follow the rules. Different toys had different rules, some were "breakely" so we could only play with gently on the bed. Some had rules like dont take their clothes off.Others like her vintage barbies or Dawn dolls we could play with however as long as we didnt lose or break them. I am doing the same with my kids, one is still to you to care but my oldest really likes all my dolls. He gets excited whenever i buy or make something new. He knows the dfference between mommas toys and his toys. And when he asks i let him play with any of them as long as hes gentle.

 

I started this hobby when my daughter was nine. She loved looking at the company websites with me while I was pondering what to buy as my first doll...and she was such a responsible little girl that when she fell madly in love with a Risi from the Soom Little Genie line (now defunct) I bought one for her as a gift when she brought home straight A report cards for the year. It was the first BJD that made it home, about six months before I bought my first. Since then, we have shared this hobby with a lot of joy and excitement. She is in college now (still owns her beloved Risi, which has mellowed a tiny bit, but is otherwise in perfect condition) and has graduated to minis, while I frequently favor the large - but we take a lot of pleasure in one another's dolls, and I know that I would not have had nearly as much fun collecting if she hadn't been along for the ride. I guess it depends entirely on the child, because as parents we know that each is unique - but if they are captivated and not the type to break everything that they touch, then I can't stress enough the added happiness that comes from sharing the dolly experience with one of the people you love best in all the world.

 

No. The dolls have too much resource poured into them. Children in most cases shouldn't touch items as that, no matter is their value is assigned by people.

 

No, I wouldn't. My niece always had the best intentions but she was so clumsy and would feel terrible if something happened. She was trying to be gentle, but she knocked over a glass ornament display, a shelf full of nail polish, dropped every phone she ever picked up and so on. And her stricken face every time it happened was so heartbreaking. I couldn't bear it. I mean, if I lectured her to be gentle and then something happened... I'd feel like I set her up.

 

I posted in this thread in February 2011, when my child was still very much a baby. She's now in 5th grade and very interested in dolls. She is klutzy at times, but also knows how to be gentle. I am actually looking into finding her doll now. She started painting Azone vinyl heads last year and I think she would really enjoy having a special doll. When she is 13, I'd like to get her an account on DoA. She is currently more drawn to Dollfie Dreams because she prefers how anime they look, but who knows what will happen in the future. She like most kids right now due to distance learning has a lot of electronics and she needs to keep that from breaking so I think can handle a BJD.

 

I give. Kids are much more careful than adults, for whom a doll is "a toy, but what are you worried about, I'll buy you a new one in the nearest store". And kids understand that the doll does not need to be dropped, shaken or broken.

 

I don’t have kids yet, but if I had them and they were interested in my dolls, I’d only let them handle certain ones (I.E. ones I’m not precious about) under supervision, with some sort of soft cushion or blanket underneath the doll in case they drop it. Preferably while sitting on a soft couch, or sitting on a carpeted floor.

Basically, how would you let a child hold a baby? You do it where the baby can’t be dropped.

It would also depend on the individual kid. Are they generally careful and gentle? I wouldn’t worry too much. But if they were reckless and clumsy, or known to destroy toys, I probably wouldn’t let them handle my dolls. I would rather buy them a kid-friendly version of a BJD (like the PVC ones) as a starter doll and see how they fare with that first.

 

I have 2 kids. an 11 year old and one year old. My eldest son does not really care about my dolls since he is more focused on his gaming. My one year old son seems to be taking a liking towards my dolls but I never let him touch them let alone play with them. aside from ball jointed dolls being expensive they are also very fragile

 

I can’t imagine letting my kids play with my dolls if I had any. Not very young kids for sure, they would have to be older (in the double digits) and they’d have to show me they could be careful and I’d supervise them the entire time for sure, haha. And it would be a smaller doll lol. I mean I am early on into the hobby so I get nervous even thinking about any of this. Don’t know if that will change with time...

 

Hi
Probably going to be a no for me.
My son is 4 very wild, strong outdoorsy type lol
Currently going through the if I get frustrated/angry I throw it stage lol

 

My son has his own toys and does not want to take my dolls

 

I don't have kids, but I do have a niece and nephew who I let play with some of my stuff. Not my BJDs, though - not at that age! They can stick to the Monster High :P

That said, when either are a little older and more responsible, I might feel comfortable having them play with some of my sturdier dolls. I don't think I'd let anyone play with Murmur or Rose, though; Rose's faceup chips really easy and Murmur is just super fragile in general. I don't even usually bring her to doll meets!

 

I don't have children, but if I did, I wouldn't let them play with my dolls. Not only because BJDs are expensive and fragile, but also because they could be dangerous to small kids. Doll accessories could be tiny and I wouldn't want my child to accidentally swallow them. Moreover, chemicals are used in the making of BJDs e.g. coating spray, face-ups etc and therefore I believe it's better to keep BJDs always from children.

 

I currently do not have children but I do work in Early Years/Childcare and from my years of experience I would not let a child touch or play with a bjd. I do understand that they need to learn to be careful and take care of their toys but BJDs are not the dolls to do that. Just too expensive really to put complete trust in a child not to break it or mark it.
I would let them look but not touch. But it is hard for them just to do that so I would have a safe space for them.

 

So, I have Maskcat Doll Anemone, which I originally got as my mini-daughter for my mini-me. Due to style difference with other dolls, I’ve been wanting to let go of her. But I haven’t been able to find a buyer so I decided to keep her. Now, my real daughter prefers Maskcat. And been asking if she could have her someday. My real daughter is 6 years old. If I reserve my doll to wait for her to be little older, I’m afraid I cannot sell my Maskcat for as much I can now when my daughter changes her mind. When I look up Japanese discussion platforms, there are some people getting Volks for elementary school age kids knowing their kiddos already understands the value and delicacy of bjd. My daughter is very much aware of that as well and always asks me when she wants to interact with my dolls after washing her hands. Do you think I just should get her brand-new bjd when she grows up little older and try to sell my Maskcat again or keep the current doll??

 

I went through this with granddaughter. I bought her a doll, but I realized it was to mature for her and resin, but a Volks MDD which is vinyl was better. So I sold the other doll and she picked the vinyl doll she wanted. I did this when she turned nine. She plays with this doll every time she visits. It has made me feel better that nothing can break as accidents happen and when she is older she can decide if hobby is for her or not.

 

My first experience with collecting dolls was actually porcelain, and it started when I was 5. I broke the first doll, of course, because a five-year-old has very little concept of just how fragile porcelain is. However, after that one break, I never damaged another doll, even though I played with them, because I had a much better understanding of how fragile they were.

I guess my question is, are you willing to potentially sacrifice one doll for a learning experience? Because if your daughter isn't ready yet, and I'd trust that as her mom you'd have a better idea of that than I would, one experience like mine could be all that's needed if she really loves dolls. In that vein, you could talk with her about getting a first doll that's less expensive, like a Resinsoul - not a lot of money lost comparatively if it breaks, but solid resin quality that's surprisingly tough as well, and let her use it as proof of whether or not she is ready for the Maskcat girl she wants.

(The doll I broke got a cute little cast on the broken foot and remained in my possession until last year, when she went on for another little girl to love and learn with.)

 

I don't even let most adult family members handle my bjds. Some people don't seem to understand the concept of "fragile".
I had a bad incident where a young cousin injured a pet, and after that, there's no way I'd let children handle my dolls.

 

I think it also depends on whether you really still want to keep the doll around or if you have been trying to sell because you feel like the doll's time in your home is done? Giving it to your daughter will still mean a lot of interaction with the doll from you as well (if not play then maintenance and supervision, or in the current situation waiting for her to get a bit older) so it will not quite "leave the collection" and perhaps leave some feelings hanging if you feel like you need closure with it.

Whether or not your daughter keeps at the doll hobby is hard to know - for us adults the hobby is lot about the DIY, buying items, taking part in the community, and a lot different from a child's perspective on play... but perhaps that's just something of longevity and she will want to get into all those other things when she grows out of playing? If that is the doll she prefers now, and that she has seen you handle with care and love, it is also perhaps a little different sensitivity than if she had a new doll to start with on her own - it might not be an "any doll" situation at all.

I think it's really lovely that you made a doll to resemble her, and I feel like it's a very precious gesture to potentially pass it on to your child; if not now, then later. I have trust in children playing respectfully so I wouldn't worry about it getting terribly damaged, and if anything needs a fix, it's a great interest to have together! But if you don't feel like having it around any more, and mainly just want to get it out of the way and not keep investing (money, emotions) into it then of course sell.

 

Kids can be clumsy and rowdy, and bjds can get pretty expensive.
I don't personally have kids, but when it comes to other people's kids if they have reached a responsible age and I know what kind of kids they are I am okay with them handling them as long as I am supervising them. I know a kid and he is very rowdy I don't let him anywhere near my dolls, in comparison his younger sister is pretty low key and if she is supervised by me I am down to let her play around with my dolls a bit.

 

Based on how my mom raised me, I would say yes. If she hadn’t let me play the way she did I wouldn’t have learned how to respect more expensive or even just special toys!

When I was younger my mom collected a lot of miniatures, mostly the adorable sets and tiny food items for Calico Critters. I always wanted to play with them, so she would take the time to play with me, and we would always play either on her bed or somewhere where if something was dropped it could easily be found. When we were done everything was put away and we made sure all the pieces were accounted for.

So my mom always trained me to take good care of my things. She didn’t make any toys forbidden so there was never an urge to sneak and grab them. The way she did it helped me understand how things are special, so any time I got my own toys I would mimic her and make sure everything was in its place. She always used to tell people how good I was and how I never lost anything!

The same attitude transferred over to my dolls. Nearly all of my childhood dolls are still in excellent condition, including the jewelry they came with! My grandmother also bought special dolls for me since I was a child, so that also helped foster respect

 

No, but the amount of no depends on which BJD. Some artists/studios produce BJD that are more like an art sculpture then a doll. A huge price difference between that art BJD and a more general BJD can reflect that. For me, the art BJD would be specifically set apart from a regular BJD. I'd have an issue with someone touching my regular BJD. But, I'd hit the roof if someone went out of their way and made an effort to go after my art BJD.

 

My son has neurological disability and sometimes bites and breaks his toys , so I wouldn't not to preserve the dolls but because I don't want him to end up swallowing something potentialy toxic or a magnet or traumatise himself with the S-hooks , but I let him use ellowyne and 1:6 fashion dolls with his superhero play under supervision (supervision because of small parts) and the collection of miniland and paola reina has become his practically (those dolls I swear they are the sturdiest thing ever) as the latter is made with no small parts and special plastic that is not toxic (even if was cut and swallowed), and practically indestructible, I can let him even without supervision with those but no bjd's are definatelly out of reach. I would let him though if I was sure he wouldn't swallow something but I think it doesn't worth the risk.

 

Hi! Parent to a special needs child here as well as a pseudo-parent to my teenage brother who lives with me. I guess when it comes to letting my kids play with my dolls its specific on the context and when they ask. If my daughter is sitting down and would like to hold one of my crew, then yes. But if she asks to actually "play, play" with my dolls then no. I have seen what she has done to her own dolls and it's a hard no to my collection. They would break. Quite literally. My brother thinks they are weird but supports my weirdness and my collection in his own way. If he asked to show them off to some girl he is dating (which changes frequently) then I would let him do that as long as both obey my rules of careful handling and understand the whole resin dolls, fragile, etc general rules.

 

I don't have kids, but if I did, I would make sure they are supervised when they're around my dolls. If they're younger than 5 years old, I wouldn't let them near my dolls at all, not even my Barbies. When they are older, I would obviously set rules and boundaries about to how handle my dolls if I let them play with them. Of course, I would also supervise them as I stated before. BJDs I would be extremely cautious about letting my kids be near them because they can be fragile and are a ton of money. You bet I'd be hovering over their shoulder or sitting nearby if my kids were handling/playing with my BJDs. Also I'm one of those people who displays as well as show my stuff to people on occasion so it wouldn't be unheard of for me to have a display shelf of all my dolls, BJDs and Barbies, somewhere in my house that would be somewhat accessible to my kids. I would be fine with my kids looking at the dolls as long as they understand not to touch unless I'm there or they ask for permission, piggybacking off of me setting rules and boundaries around the dolls.

 

No, never, especially not my daughter. I would trust my son but he has zero interest.

My daughter is a machine of destruction. She takes everything apart, and remakes it. She Frankenstein's her toys just like Sid from Toy Story, and while they come out interesting enough, I could not even want to imagine what she would do to my BJD's. I would probably end up with a weird dragon-spider-human hybrid doll with goat feet.

 

My daughter is 3, so definitely too young. But even when she gets a bit older, I would really not want to put her in a situation where she could accidentally cause damage. It would be awful for her to feel she had broken one of my things when it really would be my fault for putting her in a situation where an accident could happen. I don't 100% know what the right age is for resin dolls (I'm sure it fully depends on the child) but I doubt it's younger than 12, given the price of the dolls. (Assuming this is in the hundreds of euros/dollars and not a cheaper blind box doll.)

However, if she's interested later on, I would love to get her some other dolls that are a bit more resilient e.g. a Barbie. (I would love to help make clothes for a Barbie, actually.) Right now she likes to look at doll photos with me - it's already a lot of fun for us to talk about what we like and dislike, and that's more than enough.

 

With supervision, I would. And have!

I had a doll (DC Beacher) arrive once while I was playing with my 6yo son in his room and my husband brought it up to me. I would've put the box in my office for later as usual, but my son really wanted to open it, so we did and looked through it together. He even helped me put her together, then gently set her on the floor to "watch" us play.

At one point I set her up in the box lid so she wouldn't get knocked over and he said "hey, get back here" and took her back out lol.

But, I was only okay with it because I know my son, and I know how much he likes to help and participate with whatever I'm doing, and that if I tell him "be careful" then he actually will be. Despite my initial concerns, he never knocked her or hit her with anything!

 

My kids (2.5 years and still currently gestating) are far too young for this to be a concern for me yet. I like to think that, if they were interested, we could work our way up to sharing the doll hobby over many years in an age and stage-appropriate manner. I would prefer that they at least be teenagers before they interact with my big resins/vinyls and at least preteens before playing with my plastic dolls (namely Blythes). I would be more than happy to compromise and find a less expensive, collector-driven doll line to enjoy together, though!

I'm an adult and have collected BJDs for several years and my mom won't even let me breathe in the general direction of her childhood porcelain doll, so I also don't think there's anything wrong with having some things that are just "too special" to let your kids play with, even if they're very respectful and careful. I wouldn't want my kids playing with my grail dolls, for example, nor the ones with a ton of sentimental value (like the one my now-husband gifted me for our wedding).

 

I don't have kids of my own but I've got a bunch of little cousins and second-cousins (from 4 to 12 years old) and I wouldn't hand my dolls to them, even to those who behave the best. I would (and I have in the past) hold the dolls myself and let them see them for a bit but never to play by themselves even under careful supervision.
Personally, I get very attached to my things and I've already had a couple of treasures of mine broken by children so I would never even risk the chance for something like that to happen to my dolls.

 

I have let my 21-month-old handle my BJDs, some of which cost over $1000 blank, haha. But she's a super gentle and careful child, especially for her age, and I'm not that anxious about my expensive things. I do keep my dolls in a cabinet that locks with a key so she'll never be able to access them unsupervised.

Depending on how careful she is with her own possessions - I don't think I'd consider getting my child a BJD if she was under 10 years old. There are much cheaper dolls that are similar. But I would love for us to share the hobby someday.

 

Oh no.. They can get very expensive at times and too precious to me, if they were to cause damage yikes! I keep my doll in a locked glass cabinet in the spare room where me and my partner keep our “special” collectables.

 

I actually have had kids play with my dolls back when I was working in elementary schools! Most of them are sweet as can be and very gentle, but there's always a few rowdy customers who rough up the merchandise.

 

I don't plan on having kids of my own—as much as I love kids, I'm just not parent material ahaha.

But kids in general . . . nah, I wouldn't let them play with my dolls. Especially not really young kids.
If I knew a super gentle kid I might let them hold one of my dolls and show them how to pose them and stuff! But even then, I wouldn't let them handle my absolute favorite dolls or most expensive ones.

In some alternate universe where I DID have kids, I'd be delighted if they were interested in my silly hobby! I'd get them less expensive dolls to start with, and work up to getting them their own BJD when they're older if their interest lasted.

 

I would be OK with it on principle but I don't know how much my collection would even appeal to a kid. Most of my collection is big/heavy 70 cm dolls and the weight might be too much for younger children, plus you can't play with wig hair the way one would brush/style a Barbie doll with rooted hair.

 

Me, personally, wouldn't. These are expensive pieces of art that have too much of me poured in them. I would buy them their own off topic dolls or something, but not my resin friends.