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My Blankie
In Love with the Lovie
By Kimberly Austin
According to Honig, a parent should be proud when their child creates and forms a relationship with a lovie, because of the amount of mental power involved. "It's an intellectual development," Honig said. "It's a symbol of love that's not a mother or other type of caregiver."
The power in the lovie-child relationship belongs to the child, Honig said. The child can drag the lovie around, and the lovie is there for the child's every command. Unfortunately for some, a lovie can also be a source of embarrassment. Mortiz's son also had a doll he carried around called Baby. When he entered day care, he would take Baby with him for comfort. Mortiz once heard another kid say, "What's that, your baby?" in a sarcastic voice. Her son denied it and then kicked the doll to show he really didn't care about it.
Hood can relate to this: She said her lovies are a source of ridicule from both family and friends. "My parents teased me about throwing it away some day, but they never seriously attempted to take either my blanky or my teddy bear, Snoozie, away," she said. "I think they thought when I went to college I would be humiliated enough to get rid of them or at least to leave them at home, but they were wrong."