When my daughter was expecting her first child, I began collecting stuffed animals and things for a nursery. The usual stuff, teddys and various things. I came upon a rag doll that was from one of the kid's favorite childhood shows. I thought it would be a nice surprise to pull out if the baby were a girl. It was mixed in with all the others waiting for the new arrival. Well, the baby was a boy. And out of all the toys he might have become attached to, he chose that one. Personally I think it happened because it had dark hair, and everyone around is blonde except for his father who has dark hair, and the child has a huge bond with his father. Anyway, we put some different clothes on the doll to make it look a bit more boy-ish. Well, none of my own kids had an attachment to a blanket or toy as some kids do. But my grandson is so attached to the doll that he carries it everywhere, can't sleep without it, panics if it is left behind and must be retrieved. I admit that we are now on doll #4, because it gets worn out and embarrassingly filthy. (We found identical replacements on ebay and exchanged them while he was asleep!)
The boy is 4 1/2 now.
What to do? Strip him of the doll and hope the meltdowns end in a few days?
Let him keep it till he outgrows it on his own?
Is this going to make him 'weird' or something? Or will he just outgrow it soon and put the doll up on the shelf to pursue more boy-ish things?
Should we take him to a child psychologist for advice? (I am against this idea. I think shrinks are dangerous, especially for children)
Advice? And don't say he's gαy! 4 yr olds are not gαy!