Boys and Stuffed Animals.....opinions!!

[tiggerlover]

I need opinions from both the men and the women on this one. DH is VERY against DS, who is 6, having stuffed animals. He keeps saying it was okay when he was younger, but now it is time to give them up. DS on the other hand loves his stuffed animals and thinks the more the merrier. I don't see a problem with them and feel that he will eventually outgrow them, but DH is already having talks with DS about how he shouldn't play with them any more and how the other boys will laugh at him etc. I think DH is being unreasonable, what are your thoughts? Also if you have or had boys that liked stuffed animals, at what age did they outgrow them?

Thanks.

 

[Baboo]

My DS, who turned 15 in December, still has his bunk full of stuffed animals. They stay home when he travels with friends, but his monkey is a member of the family and goes with us when we go away as a family. It is a joke in this house that we're going to have a fight over who gets the monkey when DS leaves home.

I don't think that your DS is too old for stuffies. I don't think that there is such a thing as being too old for something to love.

 

[jsmith]

Well, both of my boys,17 and 14, have a number of them.. Teenage girls think they are "cute" gifts to give boys for good luck. My older son's girlfriend actually expects him to take the one's she gives him in his athletic bag to track meets. Given that, no 6 is not too old for stuffed animals! No one is too old for stuffed animals!

 

[JuliaEeyore]

I fell in love with my husband because he HAD stuffed animals when we met! He had two old Wrinkle Dog puppets that he had since he was probably 10. I thought it was the cutest thing. He's the epitome of tough-guy... ex hockey and football player... big broad shoulders...

I was then completely unafraid to show him my collection of stuffed Eeyores. We were perfect for each other!

I say you are never too old for stuffed things!!!!!!

Julia

 

[jamsmom]

I know once when I told my son that other boys would laugh at him for something, a friend told me I was teaching/ implying to him that he should CARE what others think.

I think 6 is nowhere too old. However, I am a Mom who would not see things through a Dad's eyes.

 

[Beauty]

John-Cole is 11 and still likes stuffed animals although lately I see him liking them less and less. Now just about the only ones he will have anything to do with are the ones from the Build a Bear Store.

At 6 I see absolutly nothing wrong with it. Heck when J.C. was 4 he had Ken dolls that he loved to play with.

 

[Bunchkin]

In my opinion, I think stuffed animals/toys are great for all children of all ages.
I have stuffed animals on MY bed!!! And DH doesn't mind at all. In fact two of them are Stitch, a medium size and a HUGE one, and they are HIS!!! LOL!!!

A stuffed animal can be a comforter to a small child when they are sad or feeling ill. A brave friend when they are trying to fall to sleep at night.

Forgive me for stepping on toes but......
I think you DH is small minded in trying to convince your son he should worry about what others will think of him because he has stuffed animals/toys.
He is belittling his character by doing this. It sounds like the old 'boys play only with GI Joes and toy guns' theory.
Just my opinion.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I gave Vince a Vermont Teddy Bear when he got his driver's license at age 16, 9 years ago. He still has it, along with a good number of others in recent years, now mostly firefighter ones. Never too old, IMO. Heck, I have a whole bevy of Disney ones, am I too old??

 

[JuliaEeyore]

Oh, and I forgot to add... that when DH and I were on our honeymoon, he grabbed a Bear from "Bear in the Big Blue House" off the shelf in "Once Upon a Toy" and walked right up to the register.

We sleep with him in between us and fight over him.

It's definitely important to let your son know that it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

Julia

 

[Ranatra]

Honestly, I don't understand why guys have such a hang up about this. Believe me, a lot of Dads feel the same as your DH. They want their sons to be "ALL BOY".
And don't think they should play with anything unless it's a manly toy!
I don't think there's a thing wrong with your son wanting to play with stuffed animals. He's only 6!! He'll let you know when he doesn't want them anymore.

 

[d.kurz]

Hey, Tiggerlover, I agree with you. I know a couple of teenage boys who have certain stuffed animals that are BALD from being loved for many years. I hope you can convince DH that it's OK!

 

[Nagle]

Our son is 11 and loves his stuffed animals. He doesn't take them to sleepover parties or anything but his bed is covered with them. No biggie to us.

Forgot to add that I'm the dad.

 

[Michelle]

My 11-year-old nephew still has a couple of stuffed "buddies" and there is not a thing in the world wrong with that.

Some men just live with the outdated notion that boys who have stuffed animals are somehow less "manly" and nothing could be further from the truth. I hope you're able to convince him, for your son's sake.

 

[Dixie Luvr 98]

My DS, 16, still has a trunkful in his room. Last week when he was sick he spent his days sleeping on the sofa with "Blue Hunny", a stuffed blue rabbit he has had since he was a year old He has some really nice ones he has collected. He loves animals and wants to be a zoologist. He also has a couple a girlfriend gave him.

 

[JESW]

My opinion is that children should be able to have what they want - in the safety of their own home. Meaning, that if they want to have stuffed animals they should be able to have them at home (a safe place) and not be made fun of. DS8 has a stuffed penguin that has been on every Disney trip since we got him a couple years back. When DS didn't want to carry him around I would put him in the back pack. I'm sure we will be taking him on all our trips - even long after DS has outgrown him.

One day he wanted to take him to school and I was afraid the other kids would make fun of him - being 8 and all. But..surprise! DS started a thing where the rest of the week the other kids in his class (2nd grade) brought in THEIR stuffed animals to show - even the boys! In fact, it was the BOYS who were more interested in pengy than the girls! (Of course they had him flying through the air and doing other naughty things, but.. )

I don't believe in the "manly" things, but then again, I'm not a man! DS has no interest in sports and we won't force him into it. But that's a whole other thread..

I think it's wonderful that your DS loves his stuffed animals. A stuffed friend can give him comfort when he needs it. Pengy has helped my DS get through some nights when the dark was just too dark for him.

Jill

 

[tar heel]

My star-athlete, girl-magnet 15-year-old must have 50 stuffed animals, including a bear his girlfriend gave him for Valentine's Day. He has a shelf that goes all around the perimeter of his room about 18 inches from the ceiling where he has his trophies, model cars and stuffed animals. My 19-year-old is down to only one, but he took it to college with him. My 8-year-old still has his entire collection.

Some men have strange ideas about what is and isn't masculine. When my oldest son was in K, one of his friend's mom confided to me that she and her husband had been fighting because the dad felt the child was too old to be kissed and held. He thought it was okay to kiss and hold their daughter, but not their son. Very sad.

 

[Spirit Feather]

My 5 y/o son still has stuffies. He still sleeps with his baby blankets and the comforter from this crib.

He has lived in 4 different cities in three different states during his 5 years. I think these things have remained a constant for him and they comfort him. He may keep them as long as he needs to.

DH does not mind him having them either.

 

[Saffron]

I was taking care of a man who was dying from lung cancer. I worked an 11pm - 7am shift with him so his wife could get some sleep. In the wee hours of the morning we would talk about just about anything. He loved German Shepards. He hadn't had a dog for years, but he loved to talk about dogs, especially German Shepards. While I was out shopping one day, I came across a life size, life like German Shepard puppy stuffed toy. I couldn't believe how realistic it looked. The only thing weird about it was that it had a butterfly on it's paw (that didn't look real at all!!! :confused). Anyway, I bought it for him. I didn't know if he would feel weird about it or if it was the right thing to do or not, but it was from my heart, so I went with it. That night, when I handed him that stuffed toy, he cried. He snuggled that toy. Hugged that toy. He just fell in love with it. His wife started to hate it because he always had to have it nearby. LOL! He was 74 years old. In my opinion, male or female, you're never too old.

 

[SeaSpray]

My DSs, ages almost-15 and almost-12 BOTH have stuffed animals in their rooms. Not as many as they did when they were younger, but they each have the stuffed Disney animals we bought for them while at WDW sitting on top of their computer monitors, as well as one or two more in their rooms. DS-almost-15 has Goofy, and DS-almost-12 has Sorcerer Mickey. They don't hide these from their friends, they are in full view in their bedrooms.

DS-almost-15 also has some of those stuffed monkeys with the velcro on their hands hanging from the cymbols of his drum set!

DH and I have our stuffed Mickey and Minnie from WDW sitting on our bed.

There is nothing unmasculine about stuffed animals.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Most of DS's (10 years) stuffed animals are in a toy chest in the garage because they're just so much "clutter." Mainly because I noticed that once they were gone, DS's stuffy nose and sneezing disappeared! But he does have a couple favorites in his room. The FL Panthers bear, a dolphin from Sea World, and a couple others. But HE's drawn the line at Care Bears. He's put those on my bed permanently.