How Do Stuffies Help Attachment and Child Development?
Stuffed animals are a classic toy that never goes out of style. They are reinvented year after year with new characters and new functions, but with the usual function, that of offering a soft-touch object that helps to get to know new textures and for the little ones to relate to the world.
For children, stuffed animals and dolls represent living things. They can associate emotions and feelings with those objects. Playing with those “friends” allows them to explore their feelings. It is much more than physical contact, as it is They lay the foundation for a better understanding of themselves and the world around them.
The Importance of Stuffed Animals in Child Development
These play objects, so soft to the touch, are an element of comfort for children. In fact, not only do they feel protected by them, but they can serve as an element to be protected. For children, to whom the world seems so big and so unknown, having a stuffed friend is extra confidence.
Now it’s time to return to the emotional aspect. Children learn to control their emotions through role-playing with their stuffed animals. In this way, they open up new channels of communication, they can imitate the behaviors of adults or older siblings with their stuffed animals, and They discover sensations as surprising as the tone of their voice.
Here we must write down an important fact, when talking to stuffed animals, learning is enhanced, not only communication improves, but also pronunciation. The more a child talks, with stuffed animals, with friends, and with their parents, the more autonomous they will feel.
Another detail to note, stuffed animals help children to live with others. Social rules and norms are not easy for little ones to learn. Even adults have difficulty following those constructs. In this sense, stuffed animals and dolls are simulacrums that children use to recreate those situations that they will experience later in their lives when they grow up.
Attachment Objects in Parenting
In a different section, it is worth explaining how stuffed animals can be objects of attachment. And not only these, but also blankets, rags, or any other element that provides the baby or child with the same sense of security, affection, comfort, and protection offered by parents.
That’s what attachment is all about, the affective bond that is established from the first moments of life between the mother, also the father, and the newborn. Attachment contributes very positively to psychological development and personality formation.
So important is this vital function that many baby baskets include stuffed animals, muslins, or similar items that act as an object of attachment. The establishment of this link should be promoted from early childhood.
In psychology, the object of attachment, or also transitional, is defined as any object that the child freely chooses and becomes a faithful companion. He always has it in sight, within his reach, and it accompanies him much of his time, even away from home.
In this way, the affection that is projected towards him becomes infinite, which explodes into a very relevant emotional bond. But in reality, this object, which is often a stuffed animal, shows the baby’s affection for his parents and loved ones, that expression in the highest status of comfort and protection.
All children have stuffed animals, but not all of them have an object of attachment
Desperately searching for a transitional object It’s something that shouldn’t worry parents. Your baby may not need this practice, as he finds love and comfort in his relationships with his caregivers.
Attachment objects usually appear in a child’s life at four or six months of age and are maintained until they are three to four years old. Stuffed animals, as we know, are much more than just transitional elements.
Although as children grow up, they no longer feel the prevailing need to play with their stuffed animals, these objects are always present, because their support in development goes much further. Even adults use stuffed animals because of their soft texture and the emotional and nostalgic component. For this reason, stuffed animals are much more than objects of attachment, but there is no doubt that there are few elements more effective in this task than these toys.
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