Tuesday 13 June 2017

"You're going to hate me, really hate me,"

the Senior Cat told me.
What now?
"You know those things you've been making? I've been thinking about it. You can't sell them."
"Why not?" I asked.
"They're the wrong size. They're too small."
"Darling that's the size they are supposed to be."
"No, they're too small."
We are talking about "snap hair clips" here. Most readers will know what I am talking about. They are the modern version of old fashioned hair or bobby pins. They are sold in their millions in an effort to keep hair tidy, hair out of the eyes of big girls and little girls - and even perhaps some boys. 
You can buy them in supermarkets, variety stores, chemists, hairdressers, and on-line - and probably in one hundred thousand or more other places. 
The Senior Cat has made hundreds of toys in his life time. There is a standard size for the safety of parts for children under the age of three. That size is that it must not be able to fit inside an old fashioned film canister. Anything smaller than that is a "NO" when making a toy for a child under the age of three. 
I agree. It's a toy. Small children should not be playing with electronic devices that depend on button batteries or single unit Lego bricks or any number of other things. Yes, small children do put things in their mouths. Yes, they do have to be watched.
Buttons on clothes? Tags on zippers? Gravel? All sorts of other household items? Children need to watched.
But, snap hair clips? 
I disagreed with him. I made him look at  his i-pad. We brought up image after image of snap hair clips - all intended for "little girls". I showed him the sort that are sold with the intention they be used on the hair of "toddlers".  I told him he could find them in the local supermarket.
I bought some snap hair clips on the internet. They have a tiny "glue pad" at one end. They are intended for craft work. I have made tiny flowers out of yarn and glued them on. It is fiddly work and not the sort of thing I am normally interested in but they will likely sell on a craft stall. They are cheap to produce and colourful. Little girls of around the ages of four and five with a dollar to spend can buy them if their parents allow it. If mothers and others buy them for younger children then that is their affair. The flowers have been stuck on with jewellery glue. They should not come off. The tiny buttons Ms W helped me put on some have been tied in and glued. They should not come off either.
The Senior Cat sighed. He doesn't agree. 
Middle Cat got annoyed and said, "They are perfectly safe for the intended age group. It's up to the parents."
Oh well, at least the Senior Cat thinks that "those round things you are making with the hole in the middle" are safe. He means hair scrunchies. 

1 comment:

Momkatz said...

Snap hair clips are also wonderful to fasten the yarn end to a skein of yarn.

I understand where dear Senior Cat is coming from--but I think your decorative clips are safe, Cat. They sound adorable. And just the kind of thing to appeal to a child with just a bit of money to spend.

USA Sister Cat