to be repulsed by the filthy comforter bear blanky thing that ds's 3.5 year old playdate carries everywhere?

[AIBUhag]

I know I am being horrible and she is only 3.5. But it is really disgustingly filthy and she keeps leaving it everywhere.

Is it a girl thing? None of mine ever had one.

[CaptainUnderpants]

The kids that take them everywhere - how are they going to manage when they start school ?

[gladbag]

Nothing wrong with a manky comforter IMHO.

Ds (3.3) has a "bear blanket comforter thing", and although he's not as attached as he used to be during the day (won't sleep without it at night), it still does go most places with us. He just needs to know we've got it, so it can be in a bag.

But he does insist on a clean bear, and luckily we have more than one (ridiculously expensive ebay purchases - as far as I can tell people will bid their houses on a replacement/duplicate comforter). As soon as it gets a mark on it, he asks for a washed one. Goodness knows why he's so picky - he doesn't get it from me as I'm not adverse to a bit of muck. I think the texture is his big thing, rather than the smell.

[bashme]

i have name changed for this because I am so ashamed
I have a toy that I have slept with since I was a child, it is now unrecognisable for what it was.
I darent wash it because it will fall apart, hasnt been washed for years. I shudder when I think of the germs it must be carrying, dh hates it.
But i cant sleep without it, its even been on the labour bed when having both my children how embarrasing

[FrannyandZooey]

I can totally sympathise with the child having it and wanting it - I was a sad blanket carrier for many years, but to drag it around other people's houses and leave it lying around, when it is unwashed and manky and wet is just REVOLTING

I know the child won't see it that way but the parent should intervene IMO - provide another one and wash it, or have rules about its whereabouts. There's no need to leave it hanging about on anybody's sofa, that is gross

[niceglasses]

My ds used to bring his to others houses, one of best friends still brings her daughter and her manky 'blankie'. We laugh at the deepening grey colour and have another glass of wine.

We haven't died yet from blankeyitis. I would be grossly offended if anyone asked me not to bring it.

[IdrisTheDragon]

DS(3.5) has a bear called Boris who is a very important member of our family

[FrannyandZooey]

Oh please don't think I am saying the child should not bring their blanky

but a 3.5 year old can be taught to just get it out when they need it and put it away again, not leave it all moistly festering for someone to step on etc

[IdrisTheDragon]

Boris isn't generally wet though (unless he's been in a sudden rainstorm, which does happen occasionally).

He probably does need a bath sometime soon though.

[motherinferior]

DD2 has a very very passionate relationship with NightNight, her very lightweight duvet. Fortunately NightNight is a split personality - DP bought them as a pack of two from Sainsbury's for a fiver about two years ago - so she can consent to having a NightNight washed, as long as she is given sufficient warning.

I do slightly wonder if she will ever stop loving NightNight.

[motherinferior]

Oh and re school - NightNight very much represents home to DD2. In moments of crisis when out and about she will say tearfully she wants to go home to NightNight.

[rabbleraiser]

Purleeeeze! I wonder how most of you ever managed to change a nappy.

What an antiseptic, uptight world we seem to inhabit these days.

[GreebosWhiskers]

I've only read the OP but yep, YABU.
My 2.2 year old dd has 2 soft toys, a cat & a bunny, both made of the same fabric & she carries one or both everywhere. She chews them, hugs them & sniffs them & altho' they're both in the washing machine at least twice a week they look permanently filthy. I see people when we're out giving her & me disgusted looks but I don't care - they're giving her comfort so where's the harm? I just live in fear of the day they get lost or finally fall apart.

[agnesnitt]

I was an evil mum, I rotated toys and so on so frequently with my daughter that I never gave her chance to become dependent on one or another of them.

Agnes

[nooka]

ds has a "shushie" also known as the filthy rag, although he does get offended when we call it that. It's an old flannalette pram sheet, and very much the worse for wear. He's 8, and it's mostly a night thing now, although he does sneak it out every now and then when he wants to relax. To be honest I don't have a major problem with it because ds is fairly hyperactive (his teacher the other day told me she thought he had too much testosterone!) and it does induce a state of blank eyed calm in seconds. He absolutley hates it going in the wash because it goes much harder for a good few days. We are just waiting for it to finally fall apart now (it's hug on in there for a great many years, but now is a few strips of material tied into knots, plus, of course the all important label). We did have a whole set of them originally, but this one became firm favourite a few years back - we'd be pulling them out of the drawer at bed time and he'd be insisting that none of them was the right one, so in the end we got rid of the rest of them except for emergency "fairly soft shushie"... He is completely unbothered about the shame factor - on suggesting a sleepover without his shushie, he said he was sure his friends all had things too...