There is something about being a girl that makes it almost impossible to walk past a stuffed animal in the store without wanting to bring it home. You could be eight, sixteen, or even twenty years old, walking through Target with your friends, and somehow end up standing in the stuffed animal aisle, deciding which is the cutest, and convincing yourself that you need just one more. And the funny thing is, you probably already have twenty sitting on your bed at home. But that’s never really stopped anyone.
At what age are we supposed to stop loving stuffed animals? When we get our first boyfriend, when we graduate from high school, when we move into our college dorm, or when we turn 20 and suddenly feel like we are supposed to have our entire lives figured out? I don’t think there’s an actual answer, but somewhere along the way, girls start feeling embarrassed about the little things that once made them happy.
Growing up as a girl comes with so many unspoken expectations. We are expected to look older but not too old, be mature but still fun, be independent but never seem like we need too much and somehow figure out who we are while everyone around us seems to be figuring it out too. We spend so much time worrying about how other people see us that we sometimes forget to enjoy the things that make us happy. And somewhere in the middle of trying to become the person everyone expects us to be, we start letting go of the little things that make us feel like ourselves.
But why should buying a stuffed animal be one of those things?
For some girls, it’s the one they have slept with since they were little. For others, it’s the one they just bought last weekend because they saw it in a store and couldn’t leave without it. Some have an entire collection covering their beds, while others have one special stuffed animal they bring everywhere. It doesn’t really matter how it started or how old you are. Sometimes you just see something soft, cute, and comforting, and it makes you happy. And maybe that’s reason enough.
I think people forget that teenage girls are going through so much more than they let on. There are friendships that change, relationships that hurt, school pressures, insecurities, family problems, and the constant feeling that everyone else is doing better than you. There are nights when you overthink every conversation you had that day, days when you don’t feel pretty enough, and moments when you just wish life could feel a little easier. We are constantly growing, changing, and trying to figure out where we fit in. Sometimes we don’t even know what we need. We just know that what we want is to feel comfortable.
There’s something about a stuffed animal that can do exactly that. It doesn’t fix anything, and it doesn’t make your problems disappear. But it’s familiar, it’s something you can hold when you feel lonely, something that makes your bed feel a little less empty, and something that reminds you that comfort doesn’t always have to come from another person.
Think about being away from college for the first time. You are sleeping in a room that doesn’t feel like yours yet, surrounded by people you are still getting to know, and trying to adjust to a life that is completely different from the one you had at home. You might have new friends, new responsibilities, and a whole new level of independence, but that doesn’t mean you don’t miss being a kid sometimes. It doesn’t mean you don’t miss your bedroom, your family, or the feeling of knowing exactly where you belong. Maybe that’s why so many girls still bring their stuffed animals with them. They’re a little reminder of home in a place that doesn’t always feel like home yet.
You don’t need to justify buying it. You don’t need to explain why you still sleep with it or why you want another one. You don’t need to feel silly because someone else thinks you are too old for it. Maybe the real reason we hold onto stuffed animals is because they remind us that we don’t have to be grown up every second of every day. We can be 19 and still want to feel like little girls sometimes. We can have responsibilities, make our own decisions, worry about our futures, and still get excited over a stuffed animal we found at the store.
I think teenage girls spend enough time feeling like they aren’t enough of something. Not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not popular enough, not mature enough, or not doing enough with their lives. We don’t need another thing to feel embarrassed about. If something as simple as a stuffed animal brings you happiness, why would you ever want to take that away from yourself?
So, buy that stuffed animal, even if you are 20, even if your bed is already full, and even if you tell yourself, you are only going to buy one more. Keep the one from childhood, buy the new one you saw at the store, and bring your favorite one with you when you leave home.
Because one day, we are going to look back and realize that growing up happened faster than we wanted it to. We will miss the little things we once thought were silly, and we will wish we had spent less time worrying about whether we were too old for them.
And if a stuffed animal is one of the little things that makes this confusing, overwhelming, sometimes a beautiful stage of life feel a little softer, then I think we should hold onto it for as long as we want.