PEOPLE AND STUFFED

ANIMALS
Relationship between the two

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

PORSCHEA KOHNN
English 111 Hybrid

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People and Stuffed Animals

Alone; out in the world all by herself. This is all new to her, its so scary. Mercedes is a
college freshman and has never been outside the arms of her loving and caring family. Now as
she stands in the middle of her new home, she feels lost; she feels abandoned. This college court
yard is nothing like her back yard. Everyone around her is unfamiliar, all strangers that she must
learn to share a community with. She makes her way to her dorm room, and it only gets worse
once she lays eyes on it. The place she is supposed to call home for the next year is almost as
small as her bathroom at home, so as she finishes unpacking she finds her teddy bear, the one her
father gave her as a little girl. Mercedes crawls into bed clenching the little brown bear close,
thinking about how cruel and unfair the world is, and cries herself to sleep. When she awakes,
the bear is still in her arms. This is the closest thing she has to home now, and that thought makes
a small smile spread across her face; it eases the fear of being in this strange new place. The bear
is special to her, it represents her daddy, her home, her family, and her childhood. Mercedes
never realized before how extremely important her bear is to her, but it has become sort of a
necessity. It is something that can help ease homesickness and bring comfort to her, but it is the
reason behind why Mercedes shuts down and hides away from new things. It is the only thing
she feels that doesnt judge her in this harsh new world.
A stuffed animal is a normal, comforting object for children and adults alike to possess.
Studies done by psychologist Bruce Hood from the University of Bristol have shown that 35
percent of adults still sleep with a stuffed animal of some sort. This little piece of home reminds
them of happy memories; it eases the fear of being alone, and makes them feel safe and secure.
Experiencing the exact way home used to make them feel not only brings back memories of

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home, but also synthesizes the emotional ties shared with loved ones. Family is meant to protect
you from birth and stand by you through everything. For a lot of people, having a stuffed animal
that was gifted by a family member means more to them. When they hold it close it is almost like
love radiates off of it, like that very person is right there with you. The feeling of love and safety
that encumbers you is exactly what you need during a hard time. Other times it just makes you
cry because you miss them so much, and dont know what you are supposed to do without them
by your side; guiding and protecting you from the harsh world you now live in.
Stuffed animals represent love and acceptance. Although the love in a relationship like
this might be one sided, it is almost as if it is not because of all the deeper emotions the stuffed
animals bring out in a person. A stuffed animal never showed any judgment, it accepts people at
their best times and also at their worst times. It was always there for them, ready to love and
listen to them when they needed them most. It never argued with them, it never lashed out on
them when something went wrong, and it never once left them alone in their times of weakness.
It was a constant companion that could be counted on to be there for a person when they needed
it most.
A stuffed animal is more than just a stuffed animal. It is a security object. It is family,
love, acceptance, and home all rolled into this one object. It is a friend that people can take
anywhere. While this object might be insignificant to the common lookers eye, a lot of people
will know the true meaning behind why you have it. Most people themselves have one. The
familiar face brings them happiness, eases stress and brings comfort and a feeling of security.
This one object carries so many emotions with it. It is such a complex relationship that no one
can truly understand every meaning, every aspect, or every memory that is stored and held inside
this one nonliving object. This object plays such an important role in a persons life when in

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essence it does nothing for a person other than sit there. However, it can protect you from the
troubles of life and of family.
The traditional American family is pictured to consist of a mom and dad and children.
That picture perfect family with no troubles. This is the picture that comes into the mind of many
when asked to think about families. One sad thing is though, for some people that family doesnt
exist. For some people they must create a family for themselves. Not many people actually think
about how some people are not as fortunate to have the luxury of a normal family.
What is a normal family anyways? One where the mother stays home and the father
works? Children go to school, and come home to a loving family and they sit around the dinner
table at night together talking about the days events? That sounds wonderful right, and sure that
might be how some families are, but today family cannot be grouped into just one little box of
what people think is right or publically accepted.
It is not uncommon for children to come from a broken home. According to
healthychildren.org, fifty percent of families are broken. That means fifty percent of all children
under 18 years of age do not live with both of their biological parents. My roommate Mercedes
comes from one of those broken families; a family where her parents are no longer together, and
her relationship with her siblings and parents are almost nonexistent. Mercedes said, The strain
of not having my family around to help me through the stresses of college is hard, and harder yet
that they cant help direct me through the even harder struggles of learning and growing in life.
The pain of having to figure it out all alone takes a toll on her life, but she tries to surround
herself with people who love her, people who help her make it through the everyday problems of
life. She created her own family that consisted of her roommates, her friends, her father and
grandparents.

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Creating a make-shift family, while technically a family, does not holster the emotional
support and bonding that comes from a nuclear family. Children are affected deeply by being a
part of a broken family. They must sit through the fighting of their parents, and the moving back
and forth between homes. The tension and problems that children from broken homes must face
are heart breaking, and actually can lead to serious problems. Children from broken families are
twice as likely to suffer from emotional, physical, and behavior problems. (globalchange.com).
Not only that but they can suffer from low self-esteem and have difficulties in creating and
maintaining friendships. Not to mention they are four times as likely to need to see a psychiatrist.
Some may see these as obvious outcomes of growing up without a normal family, but these
problems go way deeper than what you may think.
Low self-esteem can lead to even bigger issues in life, like depression and self -harm. A
lot of times people dont even notice what is going on with these children. Children from broken
families seem to withdraw themselves because they are afraid of getting too close to someone
and losing relationships once again. Children from these circumstances learn to make do and
deal with things themselves. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, parents dont
seem to realize the pain and suffering they put their children through when they break the family
apart. When the parents split, they not only take away the security of family and home, but they
take away their kids childhoods because children tend to grow up faster and take on the role of
whichever parent they no longer live with. (healthychildren.org).
No matter who she surrounds herself with, there is no substitute for a parent. Every night
when Mercedes goes to sleep she cuddles with her teddy bear, clutching it for dear life. The bear
is the only thing she has that ties her to her family, more specifically to her father. Her father
gave her the teddy bear when she was just a kid, back before her family tore apart. This teddy

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bear means everything to her. It reminds her of a happy childhood, one where her family all
loved each other, and took care of each other. One where her mother was around, to love and
care for her. Mercedes has done well for the way she has grown up, but she has become overly
dependent on the teddy bear.
Everyone has witnessed the way a child clings to a stuffed animal. If they are crying and
you simply give them the stuffed animal everything seems to be ok in a few minutes. We have
all seen how an adult turns to a stuffed animal to help calm them when times get tough. Well
sometimes the commitment a person has with the stuffed animal can turn into a fetish. Tim Dant
from Lancaster University did a study and found that the relationship between a person and a
stuffed animal can become excessive and irrational and the stuffed animal turns into more than
just a comfort object; it becomes a necessity.
Many children are given a stuffed animal. They represent love and acceptance, and
provide comfort. The stuffed animal can help a child cope with fear, stress, and homesickness,
and it allows the child to have a little piece of home with them wherever they go. Parents like
them because they can help calm and sooth a child when they become upset or scared; they are
an easy fix to whatever the problem may be. Many parents wont think twice about the child
having a stuffed animal.
But if you look deeper into the connection of person and stuffed animal, have you ever
wondered what would happen if you were to take that object away? Well researchers wanted to
know the answer to that exact question, so they did a study to find out. What did they find? That
the subjects became highly stressed out and agitated when they didnt have the stuffed animal.

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This harmless little stuffed animal can have a major impact on a child, one that most
probably have never thought of. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, this extreme
attachment to the stuffed animal can cause social anxiety and depression. When around new
people, or in a new environment, the child turns to the stuffed animal instead of face the fear of a
new person or place. All because this is what the child was taught to do every time they were
given the stuffed animal from their parent. They cut themselves off from the world and focus on
the familiar stuffed animal. Do parents care? No, because the stuffed animal keeps them from
crying or from being scared. Parents tend to rely on these stuffed animals too much, and it can
cause a negative impact on the child because without the stuffed animal the child feels lost, and
depressed. (livescience.com).
Children were taught to rely on stuffed animals to make things all better, so as an adult
that same concept follows them, and the stuffed animal is used as a coping mechanism when
things get tough. Adults that come from a childhood where they depended so much on a stuffed
animal may have trouble making friends, or being able to get or find a job. They may encounter
separation anxiety when the day comes in which they either lose, or finally give up the stuffed
animal because society deems them as too old to have one. This fetish and obsession with the
stuffed animal leads to depression when the source is taken away. The irrational one-sided
relationship a person has developed with the stuffed animal is out of control that depression over
takes the persons life. These adults lack the ability to cope with stress and new experiences.
These problems that arise from an under attentive parent to a child can cause major problems in
the childs adult life.
This depression and social anxiety arises from a fetish in which they have created from
their childhood stuffed animal. There comes a point in life in which people need to learn to deal

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with the stresses of everyday life without turning to a stuffed animal. As a child this stuffed
animal was a best friend, a connection to home, and a secure object that made us feel loved and
safe. This idea was put upon us by parents or guardians that would rather turn to the easy fix
than try and ease the fear of the child themselves. Go ahead and give a child a stuffed animal, but
know the boundaries of where to step in and be a parent and when to allow the comfort of a
stuffed animal. Parents becoming too reliant on these comfort objects cause lifelong issues in
their childrens lives. But as children grow into adults, they need to realize that they need to
break out of their comfort zone and try new things.

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Works Cited
Collopy, Barbara. parenthood.com. 2003. article. 22 October 2014.
Dant, Tim. eprints. 1996. paper. 23 October 2014.
Dixon, Patrick. "Globalchange." Dixon, Patrick. How Broken Relationships Impact Children. unknown:
unknown, 1995. ch. 6. article.
Pappas, Stephanie. Livescience. 10 October 2010. article. 23 october 2014.
Pediatrics, American Acadamy of. healthychildren.org. 28 march 2014. article. 22 October 2014.
Serico, Chris. today. 6 october 2014. article. 21 October 2014.
Stringer, Kathi. toddlertime. 2013. article. 19 October 2014.