To ask you to help me find this teddy bear for DD

[pinkcarpet]

My DD (age 5) has had a teddy bear since she was born (was a gift from one of her aunts) and she absolutely loves it to death. Sleeps with it every night, runs to cuddle it when she is sad.

Unbeknown to me or DH she decided to put it in her schoolbag yesterday morning and take it to school. She got home from school and it was gone, no longer in her bag. She swears blind she left it in her bag all day but the last time she can remember seeing it is lunchtime yesterday.

She was in floods of tears yesterday afternoon, we retraced our steps all the way back to the school, looked in all the surrounding streets, I have posted on local groups and asked the school but no-one has seen it. We asked again at the school office this morning and still nothing. I have searched ebay and all the usual second hand sites I can think of but nothing is coming up.

So, AIBU to ask you to help me find a replacement bear, or should I use this as a life lesson for DD and not replace it?

I think that's very strange. I've noticed when my dd has brought tiny bouncy balls that weren't hers home. I would def notice a big teddy. Are you absolutely sure she took it to school? Could she be muddled?

Could you ask the @LittleBlueCup group on twitter? They are excellent at finding things that have been discontinued

I hope you find it! DS2 was so attached to a little elephant toy we'd bought at Chester Zoo I was paranoid about losing it. A lovely Mumsnetter who was going to Chester Zoo managed to buy the very last one for me and post it, so we had a spare. The spare did have to come into play on occasion and he knows there are two, but he loves them both now.

Could you not just buy the one with a different coloured dress and pass it off as teddy went shopping? If the bear is the same and it’s just the clothes that are different

Oh bless you, OP. My heart bleeds for your little one. My DS is soooo attached to some of his cuddlies, he would be heartbroken.

If you can find the same style bear, even if the dress is different, could you tell DD that Teddy's dress for ripped and you've put a replacement on?

Your poor dd hoping it is found.
Some parents never look in their children's bags. You could offer a small reward for the missing teddy . Also ask if any friends seen it and wanted it.
At five she will be heartbroken so hoping it is found .

They changed the style of the bear a couple of years after DD got hers. The shape of the head and the fur is different plus hers was well loved and the fur was much flatter than a new one would be, so she would definitely notice. But at least it could be a new cousin/sister type replacement I guess its better than nothing. She will still be heartbroken though if its really gone.

I'm very sure she took it to school as she said she kept it in her bag and only went over to her bag to kiss its feet at breaktime, but at lunchtime she showed it to her friends, and this was backed up by one of DDs friends who was helping to look for it.

Thank you @TommyShelby I've never heard of them but will check it out. Twitter must be useful for something!

Ted Baker customer service emailed me a really pathetic reply saying they had done "an extensive search" of their inventory and retail partners and it wasn't available. But they really don't care and it was clear it was a standard reply.

Are you sure you took it to school, we had similar with a book this week and after teacher hinting for it, email we found it at home, son swears he took it to school. Though he mislaid a much loved teddy, dh left it at park, we got a replacement except it was bigger, we said he had been holiday and eaten loads dog chips and grown. I was convinced it wouldn't work but it did and has never questioned it since.

Spotted this on fb market place. It was posted over a week ago so no idea if it will still be available...

www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/673023196892190/

I would be reluctant to buy a replacement unless it was exactly the same.
Otherwise it may lead to DD ‘losing’ toys often if she thinks she will get a new one!!

I agree, offering a reward may be just the incentive needed!

As everyone has said, keep trying on social media, get the school to send another message out. Be relentless. My daughter left a very precious item on a bus. We were abroad, it was late at night, she was distraught. Went to see the rep the next morning and she said "this country loves children, and we will do everything in our power to find it", but tbh I didn't have much faith. This precious thing, which had no nose, absolutely stunk, had seen far better days, went viral on Facebook. It had over 60,000 shares from the tour operator, which back then was a lot. And true to their word, they found it five days later.
I'll keep everything crossed for you.

Is this it?

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174424540279

How common is it for kids to take home other kids teddies? Its not a tiny thing that could fit in a pocket

Most of my experience with children is with children older than your daughter, but I wouldn’t say it was very common. Most 5 year olds know it’s wrong to steal things, and my experience is that children are generally (obviously not always!) nice to each other! Hopefully if it has been taken from her bag then a parent will find it soon and return it to you.

Your poor daughter! I know she shouldn’t have taken it to school but it’s not like she left it somewhere and forgot about it

It is so strange. She opened her bag up when she got home and was basically so shocked, she swore she kept it in her bag and that it was there when she left the classroom.

As we aren't allowed into the school grounds I'll never know if this is true or not, but she was very sure of herself that it was in her bag!

@Si1ver that one is similar but is a newer version (similar to what my DD2 has) which is a different shape and colour

I think if you keep looking on eBay you’ll find it eventually. My son lost a much less striking looking teddy from marks and spencer and I eventually found exactly the same one by regularly searching “marks spencer teddy”. I put it in a box with some balloons for Christmas and Santa left a note saying he’d found him while delivering presents and teddy had become Santa’s helper. Explained why he’d been missing for so long and was exciting for my son.

Oh bless her. I was very attached to my stuffed animals as a child, and still am at 25. I used to sneak my teddies out with me a lot of the time so this breaks my heart. I really hope its found but it sounds like it's fallen out of her bag on the way home or something

Did she show it to anyone OP ?

Oh no. My dd has special needs and when she was young and I was out my dh gave her a tshirt I slept in to soothe her. Well that was it. She became super attached, it had a name and went everywhere with us. Totally irreplaceable as it was an old marathon tshirt. It started to come apart after a while and eventually she lost it (I think I was as I upset as she was). We found it in the end down the back of a radiator. It might be in another kid’s bag and the parent hasn’t checked yet. I really hope you find it.

tell her it caught covid?
Social distancing lesson and don;t take toys to school when told not to all in one.

I wouldn't be surprised if your DD's bear turns up at home after all but in the meantime, make a wanted poster which includes a photo of the bear and ask for it to be returned to X class. Print out a bunch and ask the class teacher to blutak them up around the school, including wherever the class is collected from. If it's hiding somewhere, the cleaners may well find it. I've done posters like this for mysteriously missing items belonging to children in my class and the cleaners have always managed to find them.

Oh bless her. That’s horrible. Hope it turns up. Pain you can’t go into look yourself.

There's one on ebay for £45, which is in a pink dress, it's not got the tags on but has not been played with

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay Are you serious? Fucking hell...