Pillow Pets

Stuffed animals are a part of almost every child's life, providing comfort during stressful times and practice with deeper feelings, such as love. A stuffed animal can carry familiar sensations, such as the scent of your home or the feeling of its fur against a child's cheek. Later in life, stuffed animals become a source for memories, allowing you to connect to your childhood.

Source of Memories
Stuffed animals are a source of powerful memories from an individual's youth. They provide a tangible focus for your memories, linking a stuffed animal that you can touch to memories of your parents, loved ones or just of a better time in your life. As you age, your stuffed animals become a source for these memories. For instance, you can pick up a stuffed animal from your childhood and remember the Christmas when you first pulled it out of the box or the aunt who bought it for you.

Comfort During Illness
Depending on the illness that your child is facing, most hospitals allow you to bring a stuffed animal to your child's room when she is ill. The stuffed animal acts as a comforting tool, helping a child remain relaxed during the trauma of a hospital visit. Often, stuffed animals carry familiar scents from your home. The combination of your child's ability to touch something familiar and smell something familiar makes stuffed animals a powerful coping tool during these serious times. Alternately, if you or your spouse is in the hospital, letting your child bring his stuffed animal with them to your hospital room provides him with a similar sense of comfort.

Temporary Love Objects
A stuffed animal can act as a temporary love object for children. This allows them to feel the emotion of love, as well as the medical benefits of the emotion, such as reduced stress, reduced anxiety, reduced heart rate and even healthier sleep patterns. Additionally, the practice of loving a stuffed animal teaches children how to love and later helps with the transition as they move on to love other people.

Separation Anxiety
For a child, the feeling of separation is a traumatic experience. This includes early separation, such as when a child sees her parents going to work. This also includes more severe separation, such as if a parent passes away or if a child is removed from her family. A stuffed animal acts as a familiar piece of stability for a child, giving them something from her home that she can touch and feel connected to.

Read more: What Are the Benefits of Stuffed Animals? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8595552_benefits-stuffed-animals.html#ixzz1h7ItRCEW

Read more: What Are the Benefits of Stuffed Animals? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8595552_benefits-stuffed-animals.html#ixzz1h7IT9Nvs