PiCKLEBERRYPOP

It’s “Take Your Teddy Bear to Work” day today, and that got me wondering… how many adults still have teddy bears? A teddy bear is usually one of the first gifts given to newborns. An attachment is formed and as they get older and more attached, and there is major drama when the teddy gets lost or “hurt”.

“The teddy bear is a very traditional and timeless toy, and is often given as a keepsake to a young child. People still see them as an important part of growing up, because they provide comfort and companionship, and a friend to talk to.” – Sarah Holmes

During the early 1900s, President Theodore Roosevelt was in office as President of the United States. He was a hunter. While hunting in Mississippi in 1902, he refused to shoot a small bear. The Washington Post picked up on this story, and made a cartoon of the event. Toy store owners, Morris and Rose Michtom, wrote to President Roosevelt for permission to call their stuffed animals “Teddy Bears”. Teddy bears became wildly popular. Their company went on to become the Ideal Toy Company, one of the largest toy companies in the world.

Teddy bears are also wildly popular in our shop! Here’s just a small sampling of kits with bears in them:

Each of my kids had a favorite ‘teddy’ growing up. The youngest had a favorite bear he received when he was born, and he had a small hippo that the hospital gave him when he had to have a circumcision at age 6 that he clung to for years. My daughter’s favorite was the red beanie baby dog (the large size). She carried it everywhere. I saved each and everyone of them and put them in space saver bags for their own children one day 🙂

Are you saving your kids’ favorite teddies? Do you still have a teddy bear from your childhood? I don’t, but I have a dolphin my daughter bought for me on a school field trip to the aquarium in Atlanta several years ago. Finella sits on my desk, so is at work with me every day 🙂