By Laura Johnson
Whether you are a man or a woman, I bet when you think back to your childhood you can remember a moment when a stuffed animal gave you some form of comfort. The question is, why do teddy bears have the power to make us feel safe? What’s so special about them?
I can remember back to my childhood and how I would refuse to go to sleep unless I had my two stuffed oversized rag dolls with me. Their names were Susie and Betsy. They helped me sleep by myself at night, and I’m certain that they became my parents best friends during that time. I remember one time, while halfway home from a Florida vacation, my mom realized that she forgot my rag dolls in the hotel. Rather than try to explain to me where my dolls were, or buy new ones, they added on a few hours to the drive and turned around to get them.
No tears were shed that night by my five year old self. Even today, snuggling up to a bear that my fiancé and I made at Build a Bear Workshop together makes me feel safe when he isn’t around for a few days. Teddy bears and their stuffed animal cousins are a very large market for kids and adults alike and now with modern day adaptations to these childhood memories, such as the movie Ted, people are recognizing the roles teddy bears play in a child’s life.
Still, why are they so important, so comforting? Perhaps it’s because they help us find a silent and unspoken companionship that makes us, as individuals, not feel so completely isolated in the world. A teddy bear does not need to know why you are scared or sad, it asks no questions. But it is always there when you need a supporting hug or just a snuggle. It could be that teddy bears just simplify our complicated day to day lives and help us remember a time when things were not so consumed with the hustle and bustle. Teddy bears help connect us to the memories of our childhood and how they could help us conquer any fear or illness, even if in reality they couldn’t.
Fictional superpowers or not, teddy bears are an everyday hero to children and even some adults.