Sand Tray Miniatures are Peculiar

Several years ago, on a Wednesday morning, I received a very angry call from a customer. Well, to be exact, it wasn’t really a customer. It was a receiving clerk at a public school. She was enraged by the box of “inappropriate” items we had sent to her school counselor. Specifically, the fake cigarettes, mini beer cans, miniature wine bottles, and the “naked babies.” About those naked babies – several years ago we carried human figures manufactured by a German company. Apparently, the Germans have different ideas about what constitutes appropriate clothing (our current babies, manufactured for an American company, are fully clothed). After taking several minutes to try and explain sand tray therapy I suggested that the receiving clerk contact the counselor who ordered the items and determine if she wanted the items. The school counselor had ordered one of our miniatures packages and was quite satisfied with what she had received.

At least twice a year we receive requests from clinicians that we remove items, such as the fake cigarettes, from our website. I usually respond with a link to an article about play therapy or sand tray therapy. Then, there was the outrage over our Eating Disorder Set that we sold on childtherapytoys.com and eBay. Convinced we were mocking her condition an angry consumer wrote a scathing comment on our Facebook page, excoriating us for our insensitivity. A link to an article on sand tray therapy and empathy for her situation seemed to address her concerns.  New customer support and fulfillment staff can be a challenge. Somehow, we need to convince them that fake poop, scary zombies, and miniature handcuffs have therapeutic value.

With a mission to provide play and child therapists everything they need to do therapy it is likely that we will continue to have some explaining to do!