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[MBTI General] The merit of stuffed animals

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
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Just for fun, what do stuffed animals mean to you? Do you still keep them around?

I still keep some of my old toys around... they bring back the fond memories of childhood. I used to give each one of them a name and a personality, almost like symbolic interactions.
 

Lookin4theBestNU

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I know I am about to break the stereotype here. I don't own a single stuffed animal to my knowledge. Crazy right?!? I had imaginary personalities to some of my toys as a small child though. I over hear my daughter playing with her dolls sometimes. I feel somewhat bad about it but I think it is a good way to see what is on her mind. I know for example she got her feelings hurt at school recently and she re-enacted the scenario with her barbies. We ended up going over the issue she was dealing with though later that evening. I don't know if that is wrong or not honestly. I don't think it is odd to keep anything that has sentimental value. Heck we have ourselves an INTP who has a big Pink Panther in all of his pics :harhar:!!
 

ptgatsby

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I have to say it... It means that my GF has taken over the apartment.

It was so bad I had to set down a rule to keep her to only two stuffies on the bed. Apparently stuffies sum up her entire childhood. (She must of spent 50 years a child, and I think her childhood is better off boxed up and put in storage anyway.)

[/grouchy INTP]

I am, however, glad she kept the one I bought her on our first trip together.
 

SolitaryWalker

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Just for fun, what do stuffed animals mean to you? Do you still keep them around?

I still keep some of my old toys around... they bring back the fond memories of childhood. I used to give each one of them a name and a personality, almost like symbolic interactions.


Yes they have merit as beauty that transcends our vain prejudices could be found in them.
 

faith

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... This stopped pretty quickly when I realized that cabbage-patch kids were far more evil than anything else likely to come along.


Heh. Quite true! Those things scare me.

I find it very comforting to snuggle a stuffed toy. It's more comforting to snuggle a real animal. And even more comforting to snuggle a person. But if you lack a person or an animal, a toy is better than nothing.
 

Siúil a Rúin

when the colors fade
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I own a number of stuffed animals (fake ones), but they are mostly in storage. They represent childhood to me, and I keep them for my future children. They tickle the eyes and feel soft to touch. They are just fun little treats to have around.
 

Totenkindly

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I know I'm going to lose my INTP-id card on this one, I just know it...

I only have one stuffed "animal" now -- and it's actually not an animal, it's Leonardo da Vinci. And he's in a box somewhere.

But when I was a kid I had probably 10-15 stuffed animals, some of them odd or quirky. (For example, one was a T-Rex I sewed together myself for a home ec elective class.)

Worse, I was very ritualized in how I set them up. I had a wall on either side of me, going to bed, and each animal had its assigned position, and there was even one that slept on my stomach. And if I didn't set them up the right way, I got a little anxious. They weren't "alive" to me, but I definitely was attached to each one of them in a personal way -- they just evoked something.

I eventually fell out of it and no longer needed the animals. Although I enjoyed buying them for people. And at college, I even had a few stuffed Opus's that I never slept with but just had around for comic relief.

My kids went through the stuffed animal stage too. The eldest (now 12) has fallen out of it; he used to love beanie babies, and now he's much more interested in bionicles. The two younger ones still love their stuffed animals.
 

targobelle

~*taaa raaa raaa boom*~
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I have a bear now that my husband gave me very early on in our relationship. It sits on my night stand. My 2 cherished stuffies as a child, a small tenderhear bear and a blue rabbit I have given to my daughter.... she doesn't cherish them as I have. I have a few other stuffies in the closet, but have gotten rid of most if not all the others from childhood, the remaining ones I got either from my husband or close friends.

my 3 kids each have favourite stuffies that they still sleep with, as well my boys still have their 'bubbas' or baby blankies that they were brought home from the hospital in (6yr old & 4yr old)
 

nightning

ish red no longer *sad*
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I have a bear now that my husband gave me very early on in our relationship. It sits on my night stand. My 2 cherished stuffies as a child, a small tenderhear bear and a blue rabbit I have given to my daughter.... she doesn't cherish them as I have. I have a few other stuffies in the closet, but have gotten rid of most if not all the others from childhood, the remaining ones I got either from my husband or close friends.

Interesting point you brought up Targo... the difference between a stuffed animal and a doll. Would you say your daughter values her barbie dolls more than stuffed animals? I recall asking my mom why I've never had dolls when I was young. She told me I hated them, but loved stuff animals. I use to have a closet full of them. :wubbie:
 

targobelle

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Interesting point you brought up Targo... the difference between a stuffed animal and a doll. Would you say your daughter values her barbie dolls more than stuffed animals? I recall asking my mom why I've never had dolls when I was young. She told me I hated them, but loved stuff animals. I use to have a closet full of them. :wubbie:


I had a Brenda Doll as a child which I loved and cherish, it went everywhere with me, I was 5 and I had a baby sister who I didn't want. I have no idea what happened to that doll. The barbies which I also loved were passed down to my younger sisters.


My kids love stuffies, my daughter has a couple of dolls but they are nothing like 'Eee Eee' and 'Hop Hop' Her barbies she could take or leave some days. I think the stuffies she likes more. She dresses them up in doll clothes and they have parties with them and all sorts of funny things.
 

Eileen

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I loathe plush toys. I keep one from my childhood (which is not really stuffed; I think it has sand in its body) which was actually named Puffpuff (I just went with that name, apparently) and looks like this:

moblog_583f8bab07cdc.jpg


Other than this one sentimental token, I quietly dispose of stuffed animals by taking them to Good Will or giving them away.
 

Ivy

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I loved them when I was little. I had a couple of favorite ones-- a pink mouse and a hedgehog, most notably. I wasn't attached to them in the "I must have them to sleep" way, but I would have been brokenhearted if anyone had taken them away.

Now? I could do without, definitely. My house is periodically taken over by hoardes of them. I make a goodwill run and the pile dies down. I usually tell my kids they can pick their 10 favorite (15-20 if some are small-- the size of the resulting pile is the goal, not the actual number). And I generally remove the huge life-sized teddybears from the choices. If it weren't completely rude, I'd love to ask our extended family members: Why??? What's wrong with consumables like art supplies, or stuff like games and things that don't take over the house? (Well, not yet. Maybe that comes later.)
 

cafe

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One of the few gifts Don's dad ever gave Don's mother that she really liked were stuffed animals. He normally gave her gifts like a coffeemaker when she didn't drink coffee but he did.

So when we were dating, Don gave me many stuffed toys as gifts. I liked most of them and kept all of them. I no longer have them displayed as they are so much like dust bunnies in animal shapes now and I'm too lazy to clean them.

The one I have out was one that he gave me for Christmas 2001.

It is a family joke because when I opened it and squeezed it's paw, I thought it was going to say something sweet or play music. Instead, it growled at me and the fish in it's mouth started flopping around. I practically jumped out of my skin and everybody thought it was great fun, with the possible exception of me. :dry: So it has a special place of honor on my dresser.
You have to listen carefully to catch the growling. I was interrupted during filming, but chances are I would be again if I did a second take, so . . .
 

Falcarius

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I have quite a lot of them, over 30. My sister bought most of them for me (she is a very strong NF). She gets me a new one whenever she goes on holiday. I keep a few on my shelf, the rest stored away. My collection won't be complete until I have a sock monkey.:steam:

Heck we have ourselves an INTP who has a big Pink Panther in all of his pics :harhar:!!

:whistling:

You're scaring the poor Panther.;)
 

sundowning

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I had a blue teddy bear as a tyke... not even sure if it had a name, though.

I should ask my mom... she'd remember.
 

Geoff

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I once had a strange prediction of a stuffed animal, that I felt obliged to carry through. Weird how these things happen in life.

I was at Marwell Zoo in the UK, a safari park type place, and they had a stall where you could buy tickets that raise money for the Zoo, and occasionally give a win on an animal.

Walking past, I had a sudden and strong feeling that if I bought a ticket it would win me a stuffed husky toy.. the odds of this were very small, it had to be a winning ticket, and for this particular husky. I announced this to general amusement to those i was with, walked up to the stall, bought a solitary ticket, and walked away with a stuffed husky toy. Scary.

-Geoff
 
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