To play or not to play? That is the question!

[SeashellnBubbles]

So I have a niece and nephew (6 and 4 respectively) who adore playing with my G1 ponies. They love the Nursery, the Pretty Parlour,  and will probably play with the G1 Kitchen playset when they're a little older, due to the tiny pieces. I also let them play will ALL my ponies, and they love the baits just as much as the Nirvanas. A collector friend of mine was horrified to know that children were playing with them! She'd never even let her kids NEAR some of her collectibles (Barbies and such) MIB or otherwise.
I was wondering then, how common is it that people let children of any age near their ponies? Is there an age you've set as a cutoff (for more than just the little pieces thing, that just makes sense) like, "Noone under the age of 8" or whatever? What kind of collector are you?

[moonflower]

I let my 2 year old play with my ponies but any pony with nice hair would be out of bounds.

He is very good at giving unique hair styles...

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[NoPonySpecial]

I have to say, MLPs are pretty durable. It'd be hard for a kid to hurt a MLP unless they were trying to! As long as the kids are the kind who respect their toys, then I don't see any problem with them playing with them.

Of course, for me personally, I do have a history of not wanting to share my toys with kids.  But I'm sure if it were kids that I had birthed, I'd feel differently.

[SeashellnBubbles]

I let my 2 year old play with my ponies but any pony with nice hair would be out of bounds.

He is very good at giving unique hair styles...

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BAhahahahahaha!!!

My niece did that to my G4 Pinkie Pie...and left all the others with smooth, perfectly combed hair. When my BF (her biological uncle) saw it, he asked what had happened to her. My niece simply replied "Pinkie's been playing with the donkeys."
And people wonder why I let them play with them

[Epona]

My 2yr old is allowed to play with my common G1s, G3s  and blind bags under supervision. When shes older  and a little gentler she can play with the rest and the playsets.
She has her own extensive collection of G4`s, G3`s, G3.5 and fakies that she has unlimited play with (and sleep with).

[ajmeier55]

I let my niece play with them, She loves the paradise estate, and also another of her favorite things is to drive megan around in my son's remote control duck dynasty dune buggy lol

[spottedslug]

My kids have their own ponies. If I had a bigger collection I may share but, as it is, they have more than me.

[MikeysGrrrl]

Well, we don't have any kids around so it's not really an issue, however I loved playing with my ponies as a child and if we had children around I would want them to be able to experience that same joy. I think the only ponies that would be off limits would be customs (due to sculpting, gems etc).

[PrincessGlitterBloom]

The way I figure it, they really belong to kids.
If my 9 year old neighbor kid came into my room and was star struck with one of my ponies, I might even let her have it.
Exceptions are: If it was a child who wasn't old enough to respect toys(think about Toy Story 3, the toddler room, they smash toys not play), or if it was a custom or something and I was afraid of them messing up the paint job or something.
Looking at all my girls though I would totally let them.
I mean hey it's not exactly like I don't know how to fix frizzed hair after usage.
My ladies would probably enjoy the "adventure".
Sure I collect them for display purposes, but they're still toys, and toys are meant to be played with. Even if some never see a child.

[svetilda]

I keep my poies separate from my kids ponies. But DD is allowed to play with my ponies under supervision.

[Emberly]

When I was out of the country my then two-year-old brother 'borrowed' my totally minty Argentina fancy pants baby gusty and left her with a nice highlighter makeover. From then on-- I just pay too much for my collection to let kids play with it. They can have the baits/commons/doubles. My brother went through a pony phase a year or more later and got his own G3.5s and later G4s.

[AnnetheCatDetective]

No kids of my own nor any related kids who live so close that I see them often...

So far with my little cousin, the solution has been to give him his own ponies. He doesn't really watch FiM unless Spike is on the screen (he's four now, and my sister was watching the show while nannying for him last spring and reported that he was very interested in the fact that there was a dragon-- moreover, that it was a baby dragon), BUT he does have a Build-a-Bear Rainbow Dash and so when my sister went up to nanny for him again this spring, she took him a McD's Dash.

Would I let him play with MY ponies? No. He's usually a very careful and considerate little guy, but he's four, and he'll leave things where the dogs can get to them... But, since I only get to visit him a couple times a year, it's not an issue. When I see him at Christmas, I just hide any neat looking toys I receive before he has time to get over the excitement of his own, and he's usually far more interested in what he has (unless you've got a phone out and then he's all over you).

I suppose when my siblings have kids of their own, I'll have to establish new rules and boundaries as part of being a Cool Aunt with a toy collection, and it will have to be individually based on whatever kids wind up visiting me. But, I'm child-free, so I can mostly get away with not worrying about that.

[Rhubarbpie]

I let my 7 year old niece play with mine!  She loves visiting and seeing my pony collection. She has a dozen or so G4's and a handful of G3's and a couple of G1's. I'd let her play with any of my collection, she found my squeaky butt Venezuelan pony hilarious!!

I think ponies were meant to be played with.  As long as the child is gentle and does not scribble on them, chew them or cut their hair (basic guidelines for ANY play with toys I would have thought), they should be ok.

[svetilda]

Interesting... My 3 y.o. DS loves Spike. He actually likes G4 Spike and not the original (he likes the original when he is watching the ponies on TV but doesn't like the G1 toy of Spike). And he loves to play with his sister's G4 Rainbow Dash...

No kids of my own nor any related kids who live so close that I see them often...

So far with my little cousin, the solution has been to give him his own ponies. He doesn't really watch FiM unless Spike is on the screen (he's four now, and my sister was watching the show while nannying for him last spring and reported that he was very interested in the fact that there was a dragon-- moreover, that it was a baby dragon), BUT he does have a Build-a-Bear Rainbow Dash and so when my sister went up to nanny for him again this spring, she took him a McD's Dash.

[Baby Sugarberry]

Depends on the age, and more importantly, maturity of the child involved.

Some kids are highly destructive, while others are more respectful and gentle than others twice their age.  I'd have no qualms about offering up my collection for play as long as it was supervised, the youngsters involved had proper borrowing manners (i.e. you are careful with things that don't belong to you), and all scissors, glue and markers were banished to unreachable areas.

There's a few I probably wouldn't hand out, namely candy canes or others with original curls that would be a real pain to restore, original flutter wings, but everyone else is fair game.