To worry my DD8 might be too attached to her cuddly toys??

[RedFish1]

DD is going on a school trip soon. She has two cuddly toys she has slept with since she was 6 months old and we have made a decision a few months ago, that it might be best for those cuddly toys to stay at home. DD has been practicing sleeping with other cuddly toys but tonight she got embarrassed and after some convincing, told me that she worries about making her cuddly toys feel sad and she feels bad to leave her favourite ones on the floor. I think the reason she was embarrassed is because obviously she knows they don’t have real feelings. She is a really sensitive and caring little girl. She never wants to make anyone sad, so I suppose this explains why she’s feeling guilty to not have them with her at night.

We have made an agreement that I will take care of them at night whilst she practices going to sleep with other cuddly toys. That way, she doesn’t have to see them so hopefully won’t feel so guilty.

Im just a little worried that this is too strong an attachment. This is new to me as my eldest didn’t have a cuddly toy she depended on and I’d really appreciate some advice. Thanks.

If either my parents were at home when I did my GCSEs, they collected me from school with a soft toy for me, in the car, to cuddle on the way home. If not, they left one or two at the bottom of the stairs.

OMG I had totally forgotten this but we used to take toys into exams as mascots, and my best friend used to take her special toy rabbit. One of the perks of boarding school perhaps that we never needed to outgrow this stuff. Still, it must be nicer to be able to go home to your parents after an exam!

I remember once as a sensible 18 year old coming home from school to find my sensible father had put the dog's collar on my mouse and attached him to the front door with a long chain and put a big sign on the gate saying BEWARE OF THE MOUSE.

My big 15 year son still sleeps with a teddy! At 8 he was taking his in cub camps etc. loads of kids did, it’s perfectly normal.

Awwww dear of her. Both my dds loved their plushies so much. Dd2 especially and we all say 'they have souls you know'. I think with dd2 it peaked around 8 and now I realise it was the Covid year and she's '12 baby she was exactly 8.
She's 12 now she doesn't take them anywhere. Just the special one in her bed - jellycat rabbit.

So cute op

It's absolutely fine for her to have a special ted!

I know plenty of otherwise-functioning adults, who still sleep with a special friend at least within touching distance!

If anyone of you have watched The Repair Shop, you would have seen people taking their childhood teddies and soft toys to get repaired. They miss them when being repaired and so many emotions come through when they see their Teddy repaired

My dd1 is 27 and still sleeps with Mrs Mouse. Why are you upsetting your 8 year old? Leave her be!

This shop is in York, a place popular with many of us here. It has some beautiful rabbits, dogs, mice, cats. . .and of course, teddy-bears. There's also a cuddly thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger.) And you don't have to be a child (or be shopping for one) to go there.

www.stonegateteddybears.co.uk/

my dd8 is in bed with me tonight, tucked up with her favourite teddies. Shes definitely not too old!