Children handling your dolls?

sollarna, while I don't have children myself, I remember my own experiences growing up, with my mother's fancy teddy-bear collection, and visiting my aunt who had an extensive Cabbage Patch Kids collection. As children, we were clearly taught that the toys that were on the shelves were just to be looked at, not touched, and my siblings and I all abided by that. Many other people have discussed in this thread, too, that by clearly delineating between "toys that are for looking at" and "toys you can play with," they've protected their dolls and other collections. Keeping your expectations clear, that they don't handle those toys, and they have their own to handle, will be a big help.

As for me, well, as I said, no kids and no plans for them. I would allow a child to handle one of my dolls if and only if I felt they were responsible enough. At current, while I do love my nieces, I don't think I'd hand a doll over to either of them yet. They're just too young right now to understand how to be careful with something. However, as a child myself, I collected small ceramic and porcelain figures, and personally never broke a single one (some were damaged by family members or visitors, sadly, but never by me). And I started collecting those when I was around 8 or so! So it's entirely possible for children to be careful with fragile things, if they have the right mindset about it, and if I know that a child has that mindset, I'd be willing to let them handle one of my dolls. With supervision, of course.

 

I'm not really around kids much, so there was never the chance for a kid to handle my doll so far, however I probably wouldn't let them as I can't really trust them. I have seen kids play with toys really roughly even when it's not their own, plus my little sister use to snap the heads off of my barbies quite often when we were younger. Though now that she's a bit older I would probably let handle my doll and play with it because she has passed that phase and I trust her.

I guess it just all boils down to trust and knowing the child, because I do know that some children can be very gentle and respectful.

 

The only kids in my family/surroundings are my 3 cousins, 16 years, 6 years and 1 year.
I honestly wouldn't let the younger kids hold my dolls, not even touch them if it's something other than stroking their hair or clothes (and that only after making usre their hands are clean)......I don't see these kids often, a couple times a year so I don't know them well, but I know they are rough with their stuff, drop things and so on.
I love kids but they just cannot grasp things like the worth of such a doll yet, or why it's bad to touch a faceup, or that it can break if dropped on the ground.
I know that I myself as a kid was able to be very careful with things and I am sure that if told so I'd be able to take care of a BJD too, but I also know my brother who's almost the same age was a terribly rough kid, and he could throw a BJD across the room on a whim of bad mood so..................

 

It really depends on the child and their parent. I usually hide my dolls if i child comes around but I might bring it out after awhile watching the child

 

Thankfully, my little nieces and nephews haven't ventured into my room to mess with my dolls. I try to keep them busy downstairs with a movie or video games. lol

 

I haven't been put in this situation, but it would depend on the child. If I felt they would be respectful and gentle, then I would have no problem. However, if I didn't feel completely comfortable I wouldn't hesitate to say no.

 

i used to trust kids till i gave my nephews my iPad 3 to play a game on, they were so careful in front of me i left the room for 2 minutes i heard my poor iPad hitting the marble floor broken to pieces, so no kids are allowed to come even to the room where i keep my BJDs

 

oh goodness, no! I don't even trust adults to handle my expensive and beloved material, let alone kids! haha

 

I've had a couple of stranger's children hold my dolls before. Only has ever been Kaysar (Dollinian Tiny, 13cm) and has always been in the full view of myself and their parents. I have found that all of them have been very careful with him, and a lot of them like petting his hair.

Don't trust the cousins! Nothing like once having the family over and not paying attention to the little cousin. On the plus side, I am glad that its quite easy to get bright pink acrylic paint off of blue resin dolls...

 

I'm not sure what I'd do. I have some young cousins that might want to touch the dolls, but they're very rambunctious children so I am not sure I'd allow it. . in that case. But I have seen kids that show a great deal of respect to items when told to handle them gently - so I am sure if the right kid came along that had some interest I wouldn't mind them touching the dolls, posing them, etc -- with supervision, of course.

 

It depends . My daughter is 4 years old, and she is super cute with my dolls. She understands that these are not the dolls to play with, really respects them, and knows the rules - not to touch them without permission, not to touch faces. When I let her helping me with the dolls she always ask me if her hands are clean enough and she is sooo happy, grateful when she can make their hairs while I hold the dolls.
she is able to handle smaller dolls - max yosd - wihich means that she can make basic things with hands, legs while the doll is sitting. But I wouldn't let her alone handling them. Even if she is super careful and tries to do her best she is a little kid... and can 't be blamed if anything happens.

 

Hm. The family, of course, can handle the girls but I'm not sure I'd trust anyone else to do so. Accidents happen far too easily and I'd be devastated if one of the dolls was damaged :<

 

Most certainly not!

when I was at my sister's place, I put my girl on the highest shelf I found. But when I went back into the house I found that her daughter and daughter-in-law got a hold of her and I nearly had a heart attack. Especially when I saw one of them reach to pick her up by the hair.
Oh gosh, I get so upset just thinking about that and how quickly things could have gone south if I didn't walk in when I did!

I barely let other adults handle my dolls, let alone children.

 

I have not done so, nor do I see myself doing so. I am still unsure if I'd let other adults hold my dolls given my paranoia @_@

 

Oh NEVER no, not on this planet or this lifetime!

 

I doubt I would ever let a kid touch my dolls.. I'm nervous of my boyfriend touching them.. So kids are totally out of the question!

 

I'm actually one of the strange ones in my local group. Occasionally we have meets in a public location where lots of people walk by and can stare. Kids and adults come by, sometimes asking questions and even more rare, ask to hold one. Most of the doll owners say no (rightfully so, most of them are SD sized!) but I have mostly minis so I let people touch and hold under supervision. Some of the other mini owners join in but it's usually the ones who have basic edition or slightly less expensive dolls. It does depend on the child asking. If they are running around hyper or look to be sticky with something, nope. But that is one in a dozen or more. The vast majority of the kids who do get the courage to walk up are very careful. The only time I had a hard time was when I had two little girls ask to see my Soom Heliot. The older one was fine but the other I was worried as she was just barely taller than the doll. It worked out fine though.

 

When I was little my mum had loads of crystal animals on display at a reach-able level, like hedgehogs. She still has them but they are no longer spiky hedgehogs...

I would be okay so long as I was there to supervise. :3

 

It really would depend on the kid, and they'd have to be an older kid. I've known some children to be responsible and careful, but others just don't understand. I used to be very rough with things when I was little, but as I got older I learned to take care of things. I'd only let someone who understood how delicate they can be handle my dolls.

 

I don't let my daughters play with my dolls, but they do enjoy helping me dress them and watch me do face ups. My oldest daughter actually has an OT doll that lives in her dollhouse.