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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Teddy Bears' Picnic

Today my 5 year old son came home with a letter to say that tomorrow they will be having a teddy bears' picnic with their Year 7 buddies, and they need to bring a teddy bear to school.

At first I thought, oh no, he doesn't have one.  He has never really been into teddy bears or soft toys apart from his dad's childhood Snoopy (which is very well loved now!) and a yellow duck.  He loved both of these when he was one and couldn't sleep without them.  Then his little pillow became his 'best friend'.  Seriously, he's like another member of the family.  He calls him Little Po and we have even made a birthday cake for him/it/the pillow!  Even at five, Little Po is still very important and he still sleeps with him/it every night.  He's hardly a teddy bear, however.

I rummaged through his sister's room because we gave all of his soft toys to her.  I found a lovely brown teddy bear that his teacher actually gave him when he was born.  I had totally forgotten she gave him this gift.  (We used to work together and our husbands work together.)  I also found a lovely little brown bear with patches that is oh so cute and thought it would be perfect for the picnic.  Then I remembered the one I knitted for him when he was two.  He took quite a liking to Blue Bear and at one point used to sleep with him, too.  But Little Po was always No. 1.



So I lined these three teddy bears up in front of him this afternoon and told him to take his pick.
Want to guess which one he chose?
Blue Bear.
My heart did a little flip-flop.  I felt so warm and fuzzy that he chose the one I lovingly made for him.  But then I had my first school mum nervous attack (other than the first day nerves!).  I thought...
What if he gets ridiculed for having a daggy teddy?
What if all the other kids have gorgeous 'proper' teddies?
What if someone laughs at his teddy??

Then I tried to be a little bit sensible and told myself surely there will be all kinds of well worn, much loved toys.  This is a Prep class, surely they wouldn't be judgmental of teddy bears!!

And is this just my issue anyway?  I have never been able to cope with being laughed at, ridiculed or being made fun of.  He has a lot more confidence than I ever did at that age.  He probably wouldn't be bothered if someone laughed...or would he?

Oh, the angst of being a school mum!

11 comments:

  1. Oh Thea I am laughing so much at this. I am so in the same boat. Between Teddy Bears Picnics and Show and Tell and Newstime topics, it is ME who gets hung up on it all. The angst indeed. (She says, just having bickered with her 6 year old over the best way to do a show and tell on water conservation. FFS.) xx

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  2. What a sweet, lovely story! I love that he picked his precious blue bear, and that he didn't give a HOOT about ridicule! I LIKE your son! Cheers!

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  3. It's hard being a Mum - much harder than anyone who is not a Mum realises - we so want to make our child's road easy. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can't, we shed tears of happiness and sadness on their behalf. I love the fact he chose the bear you made, I hope he takes it tomorrow and that all the other kids love it as much as he does - I think it is super cute.

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  4. Ohh Thea! How sweet :)

    I'm sure he will have a lovely Teddy Bear's Picnic!

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  5. Oh Thea, I feel for you, I was (still am) always worried about the little things. My now 19yo son is always telling his problems are his and I can't fix them.... though it doesn't stop me trying.
    I'm sure he'll enjoy his picnic.

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  6. I hope my son's school does a Teddy bears picnic although there'll be problems over which one to take. He has his own special one (Jefferson) that he loves but he happens to love his sister's one (Wembley) better lol. I don't know that his sister will let him take Wembley...

    As to blue bear - he's not daggy. He's beautiful !

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  7. oh dear! I remember... oh dear!

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  8. I'm sure he will have a wonderful day and that blue teddy is gorgeous! My Mum makes teddies and even when they're a little bit wonky, I think they're so much more gorgeous than the perfect ones made by a machine in a factory somewhere.

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  9. Oh Thea, Blue Teddy is gorgeous he's not daggy at all! I'm sure your son will point out with pride that his Mum was clever enough to make him too.

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  10. Thanks everyone. He did have a lovely time and of course my angst was in vain!
    When we got to school he didn't want to take Blue Bear out of his bag...I think he felt too big for teddies.
    But when I picked him up this afternoon he was carrying Blue Bear and said his Yr7 buddy had a blue teddy, too. It was all good.

    Note to self: Do not worry unnecessarily.

    Hmmm easier said than done!

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  11. Awww, I'm glad it all worked out ok. That blue teddy is very, very cute! My little man has a ragged, dirty Humpty Dumpty, like on Playschool, that he carries everywhere. Our dog got to him one day and it was panic stations all round!

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