Binkies, blankies, cuddlies. These are just some of the things that make little ones feel safe and secure in their young years. While grandparents and even complete strangers might feel compelled to voice their disdain for a child clinging to her tattered blanket with her thumb in her mouth, most parents and professional acknowledge that comfort items are a natural part of childhood.

Binkies, blankies, cuddlies. These are just some of the things that make little ones feel safe and secure in their young years. Often starting early in their first year, many children latch on to comforting objects or habits and continue them through their preschool years. While grandparents and even complete strangers might feel compelled to voice their disdain for a child clinging to her tattered blanket with her thumb in her mouth, most parents and professional acknowledge that comfort items are a natural part of childhood.

"Most comfort items provide an enhancement to the child's sense of safety and security," says marriage and family counselor Jeffrey R. Greene, Ph.D., LPCC. "At a time when the line between fantasy and reality is blurred or poorly defined, blankets, stuffed animals or articles of clothing all become best friends."

Many parents can remember the items that comforted them as children and are thus more likely to tolerate their own children's choices. While a favorite stuffed animal, a blanket, a pacifier or the child's thumb are frequent choices for comfort items, the things children latch on to are sometimes out of the ordinary, and items associated with Mommy are known to be top picks for soothing young souls.

Shares Debbie Stauffer, mother of two and a half year old Katie, "Ever since she was a tiny baby, she would play with my long hair until she fell asleep. She would rub the ends over her eyes and face and just drift right off. I got a terrible crick in my neck every time it was her nap time, though!"

Since Debbie wasn't likely to lose her hair in the same sense one might lose a blanket or pacifier, the Stauffers didn't have to worry about replacing Katie's comfort item until Debbie decided she wanted a different do. "When I decided I wanted my hair a little shorter, we had to think about what Katie would do without my hair to play with," remembers Debbie. "The logical thing to do -- or we thought at the time it was logical -- was to cut off the long part, and tie it together into a ponytail." Katie now has a piece of Mom that she can take anywhere to keep her happy.

No matter what your child has decided to use for comfort, no doubt you might have one or two concerns about it at some point. One common concern is cleanliness. When a blanket or toy is dragged around from sun up to sun down and clung to tightly through the night, it can quickly look a little worse for the wear. Prying the item from child in order to wash it sometimes proves to be a challenge for parents.

"Fluffy Puppy has spent a lot of time in sick beds and mud puddles," admits Kim Hoelzli of her son Brian's favorite stuffed toy. "He went through the washer and dryer on a regular basis." Kim maintains that Brian didn't balk too much at letting Fluffy Puppy take a bath, but "by the time he was ready for the dryer, Brian was ready to have him back!"

Perhaps the only thing more stressful than having to be parted from their comfort items so they can be washed is to misplace the item altogether. More than one parent has turned an entire house inside out searching for a coveted blankie at bedtime. Leaving a comfort item someplace outside the home can be even more frustrating. Angela Barbeisch recalls that her daughter's blanket once got left at Grandma's house some distance away. They had to endure the wait for Grandma to express mail it back to them.

Having duplicate items, if possible, is a good idea to help ward off sleepless nights after misplacing a comfort item. A substitute item can also curtail the trauma while a dirty comfort item is being washed.

At some point, even the most tolerant of parents might begin to wonder if they should try to dissuade their child's use of a comfort item. Dr. Greene doesn't think so. "Parents should usually remain neutral, neither encouraging nor discouraging, until the child indicates that it is time to move on." Greene believes that a parent thinking that a child is "too old" for a comfort item is the parent's problem, not the child's. "By and large, peer pressure and approval puts an end to this phase of life."

Hoelzli echoes this sentiment. "I had a teddy bear that I slept with until I was about ten. I brought him to a sleepover when I was eight or nine and was teased terribly by the other girls, which taught me to leave him at home. I think that kind of started my break up with him."

According to Greene, most children will begin to give up their comfort items on their own, usually by the mid- to late elementary school years. If an older child seems to still be heavily reliant on a childhood comfort item by the high school years, parents should probably be concerned.

Stauffer sums up the case for comfort items very well. "I think it is nice that [children] can have something to comfort them. It upsets me when someone says, 'You're too old for that!' I have had plenty of days where if a blankie or binkey would have made me feel better, I would have tried it!" And the fact is that adults do have their own comfort mechanisms: tapping their fingers when they are nervous, needing to hold a glass in their hands at a party. It's all part of the same game. We all need to be comforted from time to time. After all, as Stauffer says, "This world is a scary place sometimes!"