Effect of Possible BJD Owning in Childhood?

I would say this really depends on the child. This has a bit of the flavor to me "give the kid a sweet, little Shetland pony, so that later on he or she will appreciate big horses to accompany mommy". You may have success with the method, but it may equally cause the very opposite effect.

I think, if the child really likes to play with dolls, it does not matter out of which material they are. They just have to be able to stand the playing. One advantage of BJDs in my opinion is, that due to the stringing the doll is easily repairable. This, however, may equally be a disadvantage: "Let's see how much pulling this thing can stand."

Children have a talent to try things for which the toy (and I would give nothing else to a child) was not originally designed.

In my opinion, other jointed dolls (i.e. Barbie or similar) are sufficient for not too small children. Toy BJDs may be a real option if the kid shows greater interest in animé and manga. Then it may be cool to play adventures with the dolls, making props and clothes for them.

In my very personal case, I have the feeling to not directly point our daughter towards it. She has to detect everything by herself, pushing her is a bit difficult. At the moment, she has far too many toys, she lost every overview. So a toy-BJD would perhaps be welcomed at first, but then hang around somewhere in a corner.

 

I think it depends on the child. My eldest has no interest in my dolls and only wants to play computer games. My youngest however is more creative than me and was creating her own rooms and playsets for her dolls. She was discreetly swiping all my BJD furniture and making her own extras out of boxes etc. I ended up giving her a little brownie which she played with for a while, but then I think it was too small for her and she lost interest. She tends to have her mother's tastes in dolls and larger ones call to her more. We now share a little and she's happy with that. She's only 7 so has to be supervised, but I think it's good for her to play with them. It does make the barbies look a little more dull by comparison. She's now preferring the moxie girls instead. I think the BJDs have definitely given her a love of dolls with large heads.

 

A little OT for DOA but I think the solution for those companies would be to offer more digital interactive material for children. Virtual dolls would probably be more popular than plastic right now. I really don't believe larger dolls or even more articulated ones are going to get children any more interested - infact it would probably just embarrass them. I remember the most fun I ever had with dolls was with sharing them with my friends. If the idea of fun these days is to be as grown up as possible then don't you think carting around a big doll would be embarrassing for them?

I don't really believe that introducing more articulated, detailed dolls at a younger age will make them stay interested in dolls longer. Although 20 years later they might start buying them again to recapture their childhood joys.

 

I was never much interested in dolls when I was little. Specially the bigger dolls didn't do anything for me. Now I love them because I can do so much more with them.
So I don't think making them bigger would matter. It also makes them heavier and more difficult to handle.

But updating the standard Barbie might not be a bad idea. I think that the ideal fashion look has changed over time more than Barbie did.

 

Unless the "child-safe" doll was cheaper and produced faster than regular resin dolls I don't think a lot of parents new to the hobby would go for it. In fact, the taller dolls mentioned in the article are a bit more expensive than regular Barbies (IIRC the average Barbie costs $15-$20 while the taller ones will go for $30-$50). Some children are rough with their playthings and then there's the phenomenon where a girl will go through a stage of destroying and performing "mad scientist" experiments on their Barbies in the process of outgrowing them. Largely depends on the child, though.

I grew up with Barbies and loved them (until I decided to play barber and sharpie cosmetologist with them), and the fact that they weren't as customizable as my imagination would allow led me into collecting BJDs as an adult.

Toys like dolls are meant to spark the imagination, encourage creativity and allow children to make sense of the world around them through play. It seems kind of selfish for a parent to buy a type of toy just so their kids will be interested in whatever hobby the parent wants them to get into.

 

I think it depends on how the family educate the child on viewing stuffs.
Yea it may be true that most people,other than doll owners ourselves think that BJDs are nothing but just a toy,very costly toy.
I believe with the proper education by the family ,toys as simple as Barbie,can also be a type of "BJD" for the kid.If the child really enjoys playing with dolls, I'm sure even if it is the simplest plush toy will satisfy the child.
I'm not a parent of any kids and I'm the youngest in my family,so I'm very pampered by everyone here.
I was taught that if,my financial status allows,it doesn't matter how much the price of the "want" I want would be but what matter the most is my heart.Until now,I'm always questioned,do I really like it? Will I really take good care and treasure it?
These questions are asked everytime before I purchase anything.
So I guess,it really depends.

 

I think it depends on how the parents will raise their child, and will heavily be dependent on the child itself too
on how she perceives her toy, she may grow up appreciating and giving value to BJD dolls because this it what she plays and loves eversince or it may backfire, when a child consider anything BJD or BJD-like dolls as "just another plaything"

 

I never played with dolls at all. They just didn't hold my interest. BJD's are a unique thing for me. It is the customization that appeals to me. No other doll has what BJD's have. I would not have been interested in these dolls as a child just as I was not interested in barbies. They are just dolls.

As a parent who collects BJD's I am more than willing to buy "cheap" BJD's for my children if they express an interest. If one of my son's expressed an interest in one of the dolls mentioned in this article and put it on his Christmas/Birthday list then that is what he would get. Or he would be welcome to save allowance/gift money and purchase it for himself. I have found that because my husband and I collect BJD's our boys are more interested in them. Our youngest in particular who has been exposed to them since he was 2 years old is infatuated with everything doll related. I am not sold on the idea that it is safe for him to have his own BJD at this time but I might consider a more child safe doll option. Right now he is playing with my old Calico Critters but they do not have nearly the posability of a BJD. At the top of his Birthday and Christmas list this year is a BJD but I am leery because of his age and rougher tendencies. His older brother who is 9 does have his own BJD.

If we talk about parents who collect BJD's themselves giving these types of toys to their children as sort of a primer for future BJD ownership it could be helpful. If nothing else it may keep younger children from trying to handle your own more fragile dolls. However I don't think it actually prepares a child to own a BJD, nor will it necessarily peek their interest if they are not going to be interested. My children may grow up to dislike dolls cause they are "lame" cause Mom and Dad collect them, or simply because they out grow them or they aren't their thing. Or they may grow up to always have a soft spot for them because they were exposed to them young. It is hard to say. My oldest memory is of my father singing to me. I don't have a great relationship with him, we don't get along well, but I still love music and cherish those memories. Music means the world to me. He also reads, a lot, and collects books. Probably growing up watching him read so much is one of the reasons I read as much as I do. It is just something I picked up without really thinking about it. I do think actively working to foster an interest can backfire if a child just isn't there though.

 

I had always thought that those extra-poseable Barbies were sort of ball-jointed. Sure, they had pretty simple hinges for their elbows and knees...but not I think they're similar to the Dollfie.


Do you think that by giving small children BJD-like dolls that they would grow up to appreciate full Resin dolls?
Handle resin dolls, yes; appreciate resin dolls... I doubt it. Not every girl-grown-up who played with Barbies is going to care about them now. Plus, you have a lot of girls who never liked dolls, so getting them to appreciate dolls. I've always liked playing with dolls; if there's a doll that catches my eye by being realistic, or interesting, I'll buy it.


Or do you think they will care less for the dolls?
I don't think they'd care less. A doll is a doll for most kids. Gotta remember how we felt with our dolls.

For me, I liked my dolls, but they never made me think (for example) that I should be like them in any way - which is why I don't understand the slander campaigns of Barbie. I knew my dolls were not real people; I preferred realistic dolls, but I still knew they weren't alive.

And, actually, I think the fact that these children are not playing with dolls for so long anymore is because of the electronic age we're in. Younger and younger, these kids are getting cellphones to use, which have a lot more 'stuff' to entertain them than dolls do. Kids are starting to not have to use their imagination as much. We're giving little kids grown-up 'stuff', and assuming they'll behave responsibly. Dolls are probably being looked at as unoriginal, or a toy our mothers played with.

So, my quickest response to how to get kids to play with dolls for longer is: don't give your kid a cellphone at age 10. And this comes from a college student!

I don't feel so comfortable with BJDs for young kids. They'd have to have a "3+" age limit, because it's true that kids will use toys for other things. And given the time, they'll find a way to pop hands off arms, or worse - take the eyes out and eat them. So, you'd need to do a lot to make a 'safe' BJD.

 

I really don't think young children should be given BJDs. At the youngest end of the spectrum, the doll could pose a threat to the child- lots of small parts tht could be swallowed or choked on. Somewhere in-between toddler and teen, most kids go through a destroying phase- that is they literally like to tear things apart, either to see how it works or just for the fun of tearing it apart. Finally when they get the tween/teen stage, it may be cool one day and babyish or strange the next. I personally wouldn't give a doll to a child younger than 13, and even then it would depend on the child. I'd probably make sure that s/he knew that this wasn't just something to throw around or leave in the back of the closet, but rather something that should be taken care and loved.

What I might do if my children were interested in BJDs would be to buy a Dollfie for them (well after the've passed the choking hazard age), and let them play with that for a while, and see if the interest lasts. If it did (and I'm taking at least a year or two here), then I might buy them a cheap doll, and go from there. I'm all for allowing my children to have hobbies that interest them and not holding them back- but these are not cheap "toys" we are talking about- even if some of the things that kids want now-a-days are almost as expensive. Then again, I also don't believe that children younger than 13 should be given cell phones, and only then if there is a real need for one, and certainly not a Blackberry or something... I'm quite fond of those phones that only have like 3 number programed into them, and no keypad/ texting capabilities. But thats off topic....

 

Do you think that by giving small children BJD-like dolls that they would grow up to appreciate full Resin dolls?
Well you can give a child anything, but it all really depends on whether the kid is going to like the doll or not.
If, hypothetically, the child liked the doll, then of course I think they could grow to appreciate full resin bjds! In fact that seems really quite logical to me...

Or do you think they will care less for the dolls?
I don't know... the comment on 'they didn't have to care as much for the other dolls', well then I think it goes with the above. It just depends on the kid. I think any kid who liked dolls enough would not mind caring a bit more for a doll that is unquestionably more valuable... :P

 

It depends on the child. They may or may not enjoy dolls at a young age, and even if they do, they may outgrow them. I don't think it can cause them to care less or care more for them by simply giving them the dolls, each child has their own budding personality and tastes and what they become to enjoy later on in life is for anyone to guess. If good experiences are connected to the dolls, then maybe they'd be more inclined to want bjds later in life, who knows.

 

Not a clue, honestly. I was looking at some of the latest Barbies last time I was in WalMart and was really kind of impressed at how they're doing the jointing these days. So while I might give my kid a cheap BJD to teach them the value of something precious, I might also just get them other kinds of dolls and say that if they take good enough care of them, they might get a doll like mine one day. It depends on the kid and on the nuances of the parenting, really, not the doll itself.

 

I think television and technology are killing kids' imaginations. Been to the board game aisle at walmart recently? There's hardly anything left! I played with dolls (Barbie, Ginny, American Girl) well into my mid-teens (I would have continued I think if my mother hadn't made me give them all the my cousins). I never watched tv, never played video games. My imagination compared to other people my age raised with television and video games is through the roof. Not that those things are bad! It's just that people are losing their sense of moderation. Kids don't play anymore. Kids are drugged with technology.

 

My mom wanted me to play with dolls as a child. She even took me to Babyland General, the Cabbage Patch Kids, and I saw one come out of the cabbage. I wanted a bunny bee, not a doll. I loved animal toys. As an adult, I love the dolls! I stated collecting them when I was 15 and found bjd's when I was about 22. I never quite playing with toys really, and I still love My little ponies, which was my favorite toy of all time. But most children I was around quit playing with toys at all at about 12. They liked boys. It depends on how the child goes. I remember wanting American Girls at 12, but didn't ask cause I thought I was to old. But I don't really know of anybody else who loves to buy and play with toys during their teens, and such.

 

I have loved dolls all my life. If I were given one as a child, however, it probably would've ended up getting accidentally left out in the rain like some of my other favourites over the years.

 

Given alot of the threads here, many of us had dolls as children that we played with but had very little intrest in them, only coming into a real intrest in dolls in our own way in later life. Some people started in childhhod and went on from there.
Everyone is diffrent and every doll collector has their own story of how they got into the hobby.
Like many others I played with dolls at a young age wihtout any real intrest in them and getting into BJDs in my 20s was a bit of a surprise for people around me. A resin or even just a more jointed doll probably wouldn't have changed my mind as a child.

Ipledreamer put it well early in the thread:
"This has a bit of the flavor to me "give the kid a sweet, little Shetland pony, so that later on he or she will appreciate big horses to accompany mommy". You may have success with the method, but it may equally cause the very opposite effect."

 

I personally didn't play much with dolls as a kid. My parents pushed barbies on me, and I was pressured into choosing barbie related things for my birthday, christmas, etc, when I really wanted something else. And the bigger dolls like cabbage patch dolls just did nothing for me. So honestly, I have no idea what it is about BJD's that call to me. Maybe the fact that they're so customizeable and calls more to the artistic side in me. And now I really enjoy my SD's and pretty much all the sizes. I have a pretty decent range from littlefee-sized to an incoming EID boy.

So I don't think introducing dolls to a kid when they're younger will necessarily mean they'll be more inclined to BJD's. It'll depend more on what kind of person they are and what their interests are as they grow older. I know that I personally kind of hated dolls because my parents forced Barbies on me.

 

I think of this question the same way as i would for any other subject that asked this question. The only thing you can do, is suggest and introduce. The child will either take to it and be interested, or ignore it and never think about it again. The thing is, it's not good to try and force a hobby into a child, because if they feel forced into it, they will get difficult to handle and have emotional issues towards it.
There's nothing wrong with showing them and talking about it to try and spark curiosity, but if they don't seem interested after a couple of attempts, don't push it. You never know, it might be a hobby that surfaces later in life ^^ Just let them know that if they ever get interested, to just say so and offer information when they want it ^^ After all, it's all about keeping your child mentally and physically happy, and healthy!