How to Care For Your Kids Stuffed Animal

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Your child will have a favorite stuffed animal. That stuffed animal will go through hell in just a few short years. Chances are the stuffed animal they choose as theirs will be the only one in existence too. This means you need to know the best way to clean stuffed animals so they last a long time.

Lucky for you I have figured out how to clean stuffed animals especially the last known specific stuffed penguin in existence. Word of warning, this technique will cause your child to cry. It’s ok.

Preparing For Cleaning Stuffed Animals

First, bake cookies. If you don’t have time to bake cookies, buy cookies. This will be crucial to the last step of caring for your child’s favorite stuffed animal.

Next make sure you have Oxy-Clean. Oxy-Clean is gentle yet strong on stains making sure you get this stuffed animal clean without damaging what will eventually be a worn stuffed animal.

Start filling your kitchen sink with luke-warm water and put a small scoop of Oxy-Clean in the sink swishing the water with your hand.

How To Clean Stuffed Animals

You can do this while your child is awake or sleeping. I recommend while your child is awake. If your child is sleeping, and wakes up in the middle of you cleaning their favorite animal, they may not fall back asleep, which will lead to a really long night.

So when it’s time, pick up their stuffed animal, and say, “Bath time.”

Walk to the sink and immediately start washing the stuffed animal by hand. Massage, roll, and wipe at the stuffed animal. Rinse, then wash one more time by hand, making sure all the dirt is removed.

At this point your child will be in tears. It’s ok. Squeeze the stuffed animal to remove as much of the water as you can. Now place the stuffed animal in the dryer and using low heat for only 30 minute increments, tumble the stuffed animal till dry.

Now Wait

At this point your child may try to rescue the stuffed animal. They will be crying. They will be upset with you. Win their love and affection by giving them a cookie.

By the time they are finished with the cookie they will have forgotten their favorite stuffed animal is in the dryer and will move on to playing with other toys.

Check out my post on The Art of Distraction to learn more about distracting your child to short fuse a tantrum.

Reunite Your Child With Their Stuffed Animal

Now that the stuffed animal is clean and dry, you can reunite the pair. Watch as they cuddle their most favorite stuffed animal and be glad the whole ordeal is over.

Fix Stuffed Animals

Fix ripped seams immediately, do not let them get bigger. However, as soon as you notice a seam has started ripping, use this opportunity to add more stuffing to your child’s favorite stuffed toy.

You don’t want to purposely rip seams to add more stuffing to their animal. However, if a ripped seam happens naturally then you can add stuffing and repair the seam keeping the stuffed animal going strong.

Prevent Loss of Favorite Stuffed Animal

Do not allow your child to take their favorite stuffed animal out of the home. While we all know this stuffed animal is a comfort for them by forcing them to leave the stuffed animal at home it greatly reduces the likelihood of loss.

If you must remove the animal from the home like while on a road trip or moving, keep frequent tabs on where this prized possession is. Every time you stop check to make sure you know where it is before leaving the stop and hitting the road again.

Final Thoughts

Every single person had something that they loved more than any other toy. Every single parent goes through caring for this toy, blanket, or stuffed animal.

It seems silly in the grand scheme of things to take such great care of a toy or stuffed animal. It’s important to remember that this toy brings comfort to your child while they are trying to process their emotions and the world around them.

Every single experience your child is having is a brand new experience. By caring well for a specific item it helps them to navigate and process this huge world they are apart of now.

Do you have any care tips for your child’s favorite stuffed animal or toy? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on Pinterest for more like this and pin this to your parenting and kids boards.

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