Blankie Woes

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I think 8 is too old for a blankie.  I mean, it’s ok to have one at that age, but only if it doesn’t interfere with daily life.  On February 19, I made a post in my blog about the same subject – the post is called Blankies.  It’s funny to read that post now and see how far we’ve come, yet we’ve also gone no where on this issue at the same time.  My 8-year-old daughter has this raggedy blankie that goes everywhere with her…  well, that’s not accurate – it would if it could, but I put the kabosh on that long ago.  It got so bad that if we didn’t remember it to go out to eat or walmart or somewhere simple like that, the whole family would pay the price.  So, probably about a year ago now, I said, that’s it, blankie stays home.  I got tired of the liability involved also.  If we brought it to a restaurant or anywhere for that matter and it got dirty, I would have to wash it immediately when we got home or else it wouldn’t be ready for bed time that night, and my daughter would put up a huge fuss.  Now it’s gotten to the point where I’m worried it won’t make it through the wash in one piece.  Heck, it’s barely in one piece as it is. 

A few weeks ago, I said, it’s time for the blankie to stay upstairs.  It’s only for bed and that’s it.  My daughter would bring it down in the morning, then she’d leave for school all day, and I got tired of tripping over it while doing housework.  She hasn’t been listening to that rule very well…  and old habits die hard, I guess.  The other day, she brought it downstairs and left it on the couch where little sister came and sat on it.  Problem was, little sister had just wet the bed, so needless to say, blankie needed a wash.  Somehow, I did not find out about this until bedtime that night, when a huge fuss was made about blankie not being available for bedtime.  I was not about to do a load of laundry at 10 at night, especially on a Sunday, which is technically (though it never works out this way with a family of 5 almost 6 and 3 of them little kids), my day off laundry.  Not only that, but the blankie would not have been ready for at least an hour anyway, and it was already bedtime.  There was much struggle and lots of tears, but she did finally spend a night without her beloved blankie.  And guess what?  She survived unscathed!

A few weeks ago, she had a sleepover for girl scouts.  The rules were, bring a sleeping bag or a blanket, so she planned on bringing her blankie, which is holey, threadbare, and of no use when it comes to keeping someone warm.  Not only that, but she is at a good age for kids to start making fun of her for something like that, and both my husband and I know from experience that kids do not forget things easily!  She has a really nice sleeping bag that she’s never actually gotten to use at a sleepover yet, so we convinced her to just bring that…  or so we thought.  She packed her own overnight bag, and I didn’t think to check for contraband.  The next day when I unpacked the overnight bag, I found the stowaway blankie.  I felt so duped.

Ironically, as I’m writing this very post, my husband came downstairs and said, “Taylor can’t find her blankie.  She is really upset about it and crying.”  It was downstairs today, even though it wasn’t supposed to be, so I know I had to add it to my huge load of laundry to bring upstairs…  I told him to pass the message to Taylor that if I find it down here again, it will be gone forever because I am so sick of the whole situation.  And I haven’t done anything with it yet, honest, tempting as it may be.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not mean or cruel, and I don’t have a problem with kids needing a comfort item, even at 8.  But when that item interferes with daily life, and one cannot function without it, then I believe it’s time for a change.  She should hope Dad or I don’t find the blankie first – we are pretty fed up with the situation and cannot guarantee the safety of the blankie should we come across it!

7 thoughts on “Blankie Woes”

  1. We can just call her Linus, as in the Peanuts (Schultz hated that title). Those characters were around what? 11 or 12? Old enough for Charlie to be in love with that Little Red-Haired Girl…

  2. Or… if you count a recent production of YAGMCB…. 30 (actor playing Linus)…. just kidding. Not sure…. Started watching Mr. Mom the other night on TV with the little boy and his “Woobie.” I forget what made him give it up.

  3. Michael Keaton made him give it up cuz he felt he was too old for it, I think. I got the idea somewhere that Linus is supposed to be 3. He is younger than the others cuz he is Lucy’s little bro. Pretty wise though. I looked him up on wikipedia and found answers of either 7 or 8 for his age, but being a comic strip character, I don’t think it was ever really defined for sure.

  4. In some of the comic strips Linus was in school. He started school after Charlie Brown and Lucy, and before Sally. Somehow in the later years, he was in the same class as Charlie Brown. Now I realize that Charlie Brown was a blockhead, and Linus was very intelligent, but I still wonder did Linus move up or Charlie Brown down?

    So for the blanket, Linus had have been at least 6 at a time he was still carting it around.

    Don’t know what to tell you about your specific problem. I still have one daughter with a Bunny Blanket!!. She does not however, carry it all over. Security is something we need, even as adults.

  5. Hmm. Got a point there with Lucy and Linus. There is another character in the strip that I confused for Linus for awhile. His name was Rerun. I still think Linus was older than six though. That’s the age Rerun seems to be if not a little older.

  6. I was looking at wikipedia to find out how old Linus is, and that’s where I found out that Rerun is Lucy and Linus’ little brother. Funny, I always thought he was on What’s Happening… 😉

    Oh yeah, and I don’t deny that children need security, I just think that it should be found in less tangible ways… especially if the tangible security object is actually upsetting them most of the time!

  7. Yeah, Rerun must be the forgotten Van Pelt brother. He has come up in a few of the newer Peanuts specials that are mediocre at best…. nothing like the traditional Charlie Brown Christmas or The Great Pumpkin. Did you know that Snoopy has a brother, Spike who actually was seen in many of Schultz’ scripts?

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