Is it "wrong" to let younger kids have BJDs?

In the end I made the decision to give my youngest son a DZ Leo for his 5th birthday. He has a better understanding of the care and handling of BJD's than many adults I have met because he has been around them since he was 2 years old. The moment he lifted his doll out of the gift bag his face lit up and the first thing he did was pull the head cap off and start asking about changing out the eyes. LOL He then spent most of the evening playing "rock, paper, laser gun" with his new friend. He cannot do face ups himself, but he did look through pictures on the forums with me to choose what he liked and then sat with me while I did the face up. He has watched me do most of the face ups on my dolls so he knows what goes into a face up. He knows how to clean a doll with help. He is very anxious to start shopping for his new friend who he has named Roger. It is understood that Roger needs to live with the other dolls and can't be played with roughly like other toys. It really is just a matter of maturity and what a child has been exposed to. Now everyone in our home owns at least one doll.

 

In my opinion, it doesn't matter how old a kid is. Theres nothing wrong with a 4 year old having a bjd whether they take good care of it or not. It's their doll and their parents chose to spend the money on it, so the kid has the right to do as they please with the doll as long as their parents are okay with it. To me there is no right or wrong age for someone to start collecting bjds. Even if I were to let someone handle my own bjd, I could careless how old the person is as long as they are mature enough to listen to my rules and directions. If the person can't do that, then there's no way they are ever going to touch my bjd.
I'm 16 and capable of caring for a bjd, and I'm pretty sure I would've been when I was 4. I'm the kind of person that listens to directions and follows rules pretty good, and I was always pretty gentle with my toys as a kid.
Anyways, to me if a person wants to spend money on an expensive doll that they know their kid wants but will most likely mistreat then they can. It's their money and they can do as they please with it, same goes for the doll.

 

well, i am 19 and started collecting dolls when i was 13. i'm not average in my opinion, but no! i don't think age matters...
it's maturity and state of mind that does. i don't put an age limit on anything. i have over 8 blythe dolls now (not BJDs i know, but still very expensive), a dal, a pullip and one BJD - on my way to getting more. all of them are in wonderful condition and beautiful.
i have seen other people around 15 with BJDs, and entering the hobby around that age. as long as they aren't stealing money to get the dolls and don't get over them ASAP and let them rot (unless they sell them to finance more important things or other interests which is just good business), i think it's fine. it's just a hobby. a luxury hobby, but just a hobby nonetheless.

 

:<
I'm 15, and I own BJD. I may be new to the hobby, but I take care of them to the best of my ability and knowledge, and I'm always trying to learn more about them.

When you get right down to it, though, the only person who has the right to judge a younger child's actions and decide if they are mature enough for something is that child's parents. If the parents are faulty in their judgements and continue to buy them things that they break, well, you really can't do anything about it. I don't think this is really a topic that needs to be discussed, unless you might be a parent debating buying your child an expensive doll.

 

Well, I started collecting them this year and I'm 13. I have 5 kids already. I don't think it's wrong for kids to have bjds, I personally think that younger children and bjds bond much better then adults and bjds.

 

I don't think theres anything wrong with a kid owning a doll as long as they an take care of it. y sister is 5 and has 2 bobobie tinies, a felix brownie, and soon another bobobie tiny for x-mas. She is very responsible with them and treats them like "babies". I think it depends on the kid.

 

Like others have said, it's more a matter of the maturity of the kid. It's also a matter of choosing a BJD that won't be a terrible loss, financially, if the child proves to be less mature than originally thought, as well as a size that's not going to overwhelming.

I would not buy a younger kid an SD-sized doll, for instance, because for most of them, the size and weight will be too much, and the risk of dropping the doll and breaking it explodes in potential. A tiny is more suitable, I think. They're affordable, super-limited fullsets not withstanding, and I've noticed a little more hardy.

In the end, no, it's not "wrong". It is the parent's responsibility to decide if a child is mature enough to handle it.

 

Since the thread starts with the age of 9-15. I'd be worried period if the doll parts (not including modding and things that could become toxic) caused a problem, the fear of strangling and chewing whatnot. If you can't trust your child to not do something like that by the age of 9 there might be other issues on hand.
If it was my child and they had found out about bjd through websites or whatnot and as a family we had no experience with dolls or whatever I'd do my own research and take the child to a few doll meets where they could see and possibly touch the dolls because its one thing to see something online and want it and another to actually feel it. If the child wanted to share it as a co-owned doll between parent and child I would be fine with it. If it was completely the child's doll I'd be selective and careful of the doll type and the maturity level of the child. If the child wanted to save the money up for it on their own and whatnot. I'd be completely alright with it, if they are mature enough to save for something that is expensive, and to a child anything over 100 could be HIGHLY expensive so they most likely would take great care for it. People in general tend to take care and pride of things very carefully when it was something they worked hard for and earned on their own.
I do not think I would buy a SD size for a child because of the size of them and possibly the weight may be too much for a small kid. I would most likely stick to a MSD because I fear anything smaller might be easily misplaced/overlooked/stepped on by anyone.

 

I think it totally depends on the child, if they're prone to breaking things and not taking care of their toys, then it's probably a bad idea to give them a BJD ^^;
But if they're mature enough for their age, and know that the doll has to be looked after, i don't think there's anything wrong with it ^^

 

I'd say it really depends on the child and parents. If the child is like my 10 year old nephew and 'plays' with toys by throwing them and slamming them into the ground, then no, he absolutely does not need a BJD. But when my sister was 5, she wanted an American Girl doll, which was around $100 and a lot of money for my family to spend on a toy. But my mom taught her to use a special brush on her hair, how a wig is different that rooted hair, how to carry her, places that are okay for stuffed animals but not this doll and how to put her in a safe place when she finished playing. The doll was very loved and of course didn't stay in perfect mint condition, but she did take care of her and any damage was just normal wear and tear due to being loved. In a case like that, where the child understand that the doll is not cheap Barbie or plushie and understands what its worth and will take care of it, I see nothing wrong with it.

I personally would never ever ever let any of my BJDs fall into the hands of a child, but if a parent is okay with giving it to a mature child, I think its their decision and really not my business.

 

Would I buy my 8 month old daughter a BJD? No.
Would I let my little girl even touch it? No.

BUT. She does look at them. I make them dance in front of her and she thinks it's hilarious. However, I put them away and out of her reach. My ShuShu Elf sits on a shelf above her changing table and looks down on her. My daughter loves to look up at her. :]

I believe that you should follow toy guidelines. If it has small pieces [removable hands, horns, etc] that they can pick off and put in their mouth, they shouldn't have the doll. So any child 3+ is pretty safe in my opinion but NOT without supervision since these ages can still shove things up their nose or in another child's ear or something ridiculous like that. >_>;

But is the doll safe? Probably not. A doll is a toy to a child and they might not treat such an expensive toy respectfully. I believe around 5 is a time to really hammer in the respect a toy deserves. You wanna smash Optimus Prime into Buzz Lightyear? Go for it, kid. They were made for that. But if you try to take mommy's BJD and throw her across the room because she's "flying" then we have problems!

So all in all, depends on the kid... And if the parent is watching.

 

This is a little bit of a loaded topic. On a fundamental basis, no I don't think it's "wrong" to let a younger kid have a BJD, but this is within reason. By younger child I mean maybe 4 and up. Like madudlincycle, I think that if the BJD has small pieces (which the all do no thanks to hands and feet) and can be yanked off and shoved in the mouth, then absolutely not. There is a reason why there are age ranges printed on the packaging of toys in stores, it's for safety reasons. This should follow the same guideline.

As for above that age, there is nothing "wrong" about giving a younger kid a BJD. If a parent chooses to spend that amount of money and give the child the BJD, that is their choice regardless of whether or not the child will maintain it as fastidiously as older owners are likely to do. Ultimately it doesn't even boil down to the maturity of the child, so long as the parent is aware of what is happening to the doll and doesn't care that it's going on.

Personally, unless the child had a decent understanding of how to handle a BJD and could learn to at least take care of it to the point of not having cracked resin and yellowing from being in the sun 24/7, I wouldn't put it as a consideration. It's hard enough saving up to purchase and tend to one of your own to be tossing around that kind of money on something that potentially won't be taken care of.

 

That's adorable! Congrats to your son, he seems super happy!

I completely agree with your point: "It really is just a matter of maturity and what a child has been exposed to". I've been around very young children who treat their BJDs with love and care because that's what they've seen their mothers (or fathers) do. There's also much older children that wouldn't know what to do with a BJD just because they've never seen one or have never come across any information on how to take care of them. Like you said, it's all about what the children have been around and how mature they are.

 

I don't think it's 'wrong' to give a child a BJD or to let a child own one. It really does all depend on the person/age though. If I was doing the buying, however, I would never shell out so much money for a doll for someone else UNLESS I knew very, very well that said younger person was going to care for it the way it should be cared for. If they saved up and bought it themselves then they can treat it however they want but if it's my money going towards something they'll wind up breaking/losing through neglect or misuse then I'd probably be quite upset. If my own child expressed interest in one I'd probably see how they did around mine first or make them save up at least a good part of the money themselves if not all of it if it wasn't like a $500 doll.
Working with kids I've seen parents too easily hand over expensive gifts and it just makes me cringe. One case a girl about 13 or 14 got a portable DVD player for her birthday, brought it to school to show it off, and wound up leaving it on the bus. Someone else snagged it and she never saw it again after owning it for less than 24 hours. Kids will bring Nintendo DS's to school too and leave them or let another kid use them and they wind up damaged. Don't know how many of those little cartridges I've picked up that never see their owners again. I can't imagine how long a BJD would last once multiple children all wanting to play with it at the same time got their hands on it.
But no, I don't think it's 'wrong'. Handing something expensive over to an irresponsible person makes me sigh and cringe, but I won't reprimand you for it. On the other hand, if you buy a doll for someone that'll love it and take care of it, then that's just awesome and it's nice to see such maturity.

 

As long as the child takes care of it, then no problem.

Also, she'd have to make sure that her friends were told to take care with the doll as well. If I had a child (unlikely as I don't plan to have kids, my snakes having little snakey kids is enough for me) and their friend broke it, I'd be having words with their parents

 

I have to say I agree with a good number of people on here. I believe that whether or not a kid is ready for a BJD depends on how mature they are. I know some adults who wouldn't be mature enough for one. If you have a kid who's willing to take care of it and play with it, and they have enough to pay a little bit of the price so they understand the expense that's going into (unless it's a gift like my first boy was), it they could totally have one. I know personally if I had learned about BJDs earlier I would've gotten one when I was younger and I know at least one other person who started younger.

I also think it depends on maturity as far as the anatomically correct part goes too. Some kids just aren't mature enough to handle something like that. Then again some are.

 

I have to say you make a valid point. Little kids are quite capable of learning the value of something and how to properly care for something that's more special then your average toy. I had an American Girl doll growing up that I got when I was about 7 or 8. I'm not saying she stayed in perfect shape either but I took great care of her. If a kid can learn something like that I don't see why the shouldn't be able to have a BJD if they really really want one.

 

yeah, me and my husband have had this discussion since he got me my first bjd as a wedding gift. eventually i want my daughter and i to have something fun and interesting to bond over besides storybooks and play kitchens. lol. and we decided that whatever her age is, if we felt she was mature enough, we'd get her a *cheaper* doll to start off with and if she couldn't handle it, then we'd put it away for when she was older and could really handle it. She's 3 right now, so we've got a long way to go before she gets one, but I don't mind taking the time to let her see my dolls that i have, not allowed to touch at the moment, and she's just all wide-eyed "oooooohhhhhh! preddddy!!"

 

I have to agree with everyone else. It depends on the child and the maturity of the child and the child's parents, of course. After reading a lot of the comments made, it seems like a lot of children are pretty responsible and take good care of their dollies, which is a good thing, since they're expensive. It's not wrong, really. Though, I could see where "wrong" might tie into it, considering they're anatomically correct and some are more detailed in their "parts" then others. But, again, it's up to the parents. Though, I think a parent should at least look into it before buying their kid a doll. If they're not already around them or anything and it's a new thing, you know? If they're already exposed to them, then why not?