Soft toy creates a sense of security

The war provoked us psychologists to look for new methods of support and rethink old and well-known approaches to child psychology of trauma. And, of course, one of the most common methods is a toy.

A toy that is with you is always there, which in a strange way returns a sense of security.

So in a situation of prolonged traumatic stress, the toy was useful in overcoming anxiety manifestations in children.

Let’s figure out why the toy helps:
1. Always there.
2. Capable of any action with the child, has time for this.
3. Does not load the cognitive sphere, it is simple and silent.
4. Withstands most of the child’s emotions and is able to accept them.
5. The child chooses it as the one that is needed at this very moment according to criteria unknown to an adult.

So, it is the toy that plays an important role in stabilizing children during the war.

Yes, children take up to 15 toys to bed when they are scared, thereby compensating for the feeling of fear of loneliness, creating a symbolic flock, which is like a rudimentary memory from primitive society (when they could survive just like that: cuddling up to everyone in the flock).

Or the child presses the toy to himself constantly when he gets into a new space with strangers. Although the mother says that everything is fine, this space and these people that the child sees are big, scary, alien. They seem to be able to harm the child, and it is the toy that acts as the first flank of defense, taking on the views and appeals that the child perceives as an attack on his own personality boundaries.

And there are many such examples, each of us can remember a special story with a toy. These memories are different, sometimes traumatic. When someone took or threw away a favorite toy, gave it to another child without permission, or vandalized a favorite toy.
I assure you: adults also remember this well, and the number of years has nothing to do with it.

So, a toy in stress or trauma for a child is an important tool for balance. And he should be treated accordingly: when a child broke his leg, he did not see that adults could hide or throw away crutches. You should also respect the toy that the child has chosen as an assistant, ally and reliable friend in unreliable circumstances.

@Victoria Nazarevich 2022