I had a little wind-up musical box that played 'London Bridge Is Falling Down' took it everywhere with me.   It fell to pieces only a few years back. I still have my Wendy Boston teddies, Treacle, Honey and Bess.

When I was 35 my, then small, daughter brought Bess into the room where I was sitting with my brother, then 38, and the sudden 'atmosphere' could have been cut with a knife. "She was my bear, you know. Mum gave her to you when you were born, but she was mine." Suddenly a whole lifetime of resentment from him fell into place. I offered him Bess back again, but he wouldn't take her. How different might our sibling relationship have been, and still be, if Bess had remained his bear. In reading some of the posts above, it seems that many parents, seemingly mothers, make heartbreaking mistakes in 'disposing' of their children's toys, with no thought or understanding about how much it hurts them. Important lessons to be learned.


Hey, bobert, I was forbidden to play with my ding-a-ling. ;-)