Please Don’t Give These ‘Balisong’ Fidget Toys To Kids

Moms of preschoolers are always on the lookout for affordable yet functional toys or knick-knacks that make great gifts or giveaways for birthday parties or holidays. As a mom of a 4-year-old, I often come across such recommendations on my TikTok or Shopee feeds. However, one toy I recently encountered in a TikTok live made me raise my eyebrows.

The toy is marketed as a fidget toy, but what caught my attention is that one tip of the toy is shaped like a dagger. While it is made of colorful plastic, the knife-shaped tip concerns me, as with enough force, it could still potentially harm other kids. Additionally, the “fidget” mechanism of the toy, similar to that of a balisong knife, is worrisome. Fidget toys are meant to relieve anxiety, frustration, or boredom, and we wouldn’t want our child to get accustomed to a balisong-type object for this purpose.

These toys come in different colors and sizes and can be bought from various e-commerce sites, with prices ranging from as low as Php 15 to Php 60.

What experts say

A quick Google search about the toys shows that other parents and even child experts are concerned about them. The fidget toys are also known as a “carrot knife” and have been selling well online and in stores in China. These toys can be small enough to fit perfectly in a young child’s hand or as long as a meter. Some types can be extended to different sizes or turned into different shapes. Some are glow-in-the-dark, while others can come in shapes such as a small pistol/gun or ax, among others.

The most common way to play with these toys is similar to what I saw being demonstrated in the TikTok live selling video – holding it, shaking it around, and letting the blade drop out of its sheath. Given how some kids tend to be heavy-handed in play, it’s not far-fetched for some of them to use the toy to make jabbing or stabbing motions, which could lead to them possibly hurting themselves or other kids.

Yang Sifan, a professor from Chongqing Normal University, shares a similar opinion on the toy. He says that it poses a safety risk because it could potentially injure children, whether they accidentally fall on it or come in contact with sensitive body parts like the eyes, or if they thrust it too hard during play.

At the same time, Sifan also suggests that the toy could possibly have a negative psychological impact on kids. He said, “Holding the toy knife to do the moves of stabbing or jabbing might stimulate children’s propensity for violence. It could increase the possibility of children using a real knife and doing the same action.”

Is it really OK for kids to play with toy guns or knives?

Letting kids play with toys that mimic weapons such as guns or knives remains a topic of debate among parenting experts and even parents. Research suggests that completely eliminating play fighting and war toys among kids could significantly impact a young child’s development. “The optimal education and development of your children, particularly boys, is not being met when playful aggressive tendencies are forbidden.” This could mean that refraining from such types of play in early childhood could limit opportunities for the development of social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and communicative abilities in young children.

On the other hand, other experts argue that context is key. Therapist, parenting coach, and Parenting Pathfinders founder Michelle Felder says that in such situations, parents should consider their child’s thought process in their play instead of the actual act of aggression. She says, “When kids play, they’re working, they’re processing, they’re exploring, and they’re figuring things out. Through their play, children gain an understanding of their world, they get to have unlimited power and control, they make sense of things that don’t make sense, they process things that are scary or upsetting, and they gain mastery over these scary or upsetting things.”

Ultimately, it is up to us parents to decide the toys we provide to our kids and the type of play they will engage in. However, it is also our responsibility to ensure their and their friends’ safety when engaging in said play. So if we do decide to let them engage in play fighting, provide them with safe toys – like foam swords or toy guns that make use of foam bullets or anything similar that has little to no chance of accidentally hurting them or other kids.