Recently, I had an email from a customer who was concerned about the safety of the doll joints used in constructing a Kitty doll. Her granddaughter is still a toddler and she is concerned about giving her a doll made with the doll joints. The joints seem fairly safe to me, but I don’t think that we should take chances with our children.

Usually, but not always the joints stay safely inside the doll. I had a joint pulled out of a doll by two girls (they were about nine years old) several years ago. We were doing an informal play and the girls were suppose to be fighting over the doll. I had used one of my research and development dolls that hadn’t met my standards for the play. I wasn’t upset about the doll, but the girls were. I had to spend some time reassuring them before we could continue.

The locked joints used for Kitty are quite large although they are made from three smaller pieces. I am not sure that the large locked joints are a chocking hazard, and once they are locked together they must be cut apart to be separated. I have never given an assembled doll joint to a toddler. I might be mistaken about how well the joints are locked.

In this day and age we can’t we sure of the chemical composition of plastic parts. The plastic joints might contain harmful chemicals that should not go in a child’s mouth.

The buttons used to string my small dolls and the tiny shoes that the dolls wear are definite chocking hazards. My small dolls should not be given to any child who still likes to chew on toys.

sherralyn Safety