Read the article first: "Death to Stuffed Animals" by Emily Bazelon
Wow. I don't know if I was especially affected by this article because I make stuffed animals, but something about this makes me think Emily Bazelon is the one without the soul. She advocates parents replacing traditional stuffed animals with Webkinz, an online application wherein your stuffed animal actually "lives." If I have this straight, the child has the actual stuffed animal at home with you, but its "soul" lives in your computer. Therefore, if the actual toy is lost or destroyed, it can easily be replaced and still be . . . the same stuffed animal. This will alleviate all the parental headaches that come when a child loses an inanimate object to which s/he was attached.
Are you kidding me? That's so wrong on every level. The first problem is that the online "world" would seem to all but eliminate any imagination on the part of the child to impart life into the stuffed animal. Yes, stuffed animals are inanimate objects. No, they are not alive. No, they do not have actual souls. But the child's love and imagination are what impart those characteristics onto the stuffed animal. Goddammit, I'm in the Velveteen Rabbit camp!
The second problem is that you're taking away from your child valuable lessons about loss. Yes, it's going to be a disaster when they lose their favorite teddy bear. But it's a step towards maturity so it will be less of a disaster when they lose their favorite dog. Then their favorite grandparent.
A child's attachment to and love for a toy is a wholesome, natural, beautiful thing. Trying to co-opt that notion into an online application is utterly soulless.
1 comment:
Well, as an agnostic quasi-animist, I'm not betting on the "no souls" thing myself, but yeah, count me in the Velveteen camp too. Anyone who really thinks that a stuffed animal is a "fungible" commodity hasn't considered the implications of there being a whole industry committed to repairing teddy bears.
I'm baffled at the idea that you shouldn't give kids something they can get attached to because they'll be upset if they lose it. Buddhist wisdom aside, having things you love and are attached to is part of the human experience - we do it in spite of how much losing things hurts, because the benefits are greater than the drawbacks. (And childhood, nothing; I'd be devastated if something happened to my Rabbie, as worn and rumpled as he's getting these days.)
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