Adults and Toys - Do Adults Ever Really Grow Up?

Every morning I drag myself out of my warm bed and prepare for another work day, as everyone else does in numerous routines and rituals. I pop in my earbuds and tune out the nearby noise, listen to the news while doing my daily puzzles on my mobile phone on the bus, and mentally prepare my "To Do" list. Looking around the crowded bus I always look at the similarities students wear to university, checking the popular brands and styles. At one point during my employment at the university, I created a "style" Bingo game, matching brands and styles students wear, and I always tried to figure out how these younger "starving" young adults could afford Nike Air Force One sneakers, Canada Goose parkas, Blundstone boots and the like. I do this today, sneaking a quick snap of the style and Google Lens the style (no faces of course), sometimes outwardly scrunching my face at the price of the item on my screen. No wonder these kids are starving, they can't afford food after spending all their money on their fashion!

Recently I noticed more people with a new trend, usually dangling from their purse, bag, backpack or chest pack - a small stuffed animal. Men, women, boys, girls, all cultures and nationalities, these little fuzzy caricatures are swinging to and fro - googly eyes, puffy ears, fluffy tails. Is this an extension of our childhood or is it a literal security blanket, like the one dragging along Peanuts character Linus? Do young adults need a reminder of their diminishing innocence or is this a simple new fad? I peered around the bus and saw a young adult in a suit with a briefcase-like bag and an anime bunny hanging from the handle. 

I had a Kipling backpack in my 30s with and little ape zipper keychain, similar to these little stuffies I see regularly. I thought this was what these current styles were copying but I'm skeptical. This was a whole brand fad, not just the little ape alone. If you moved the ape from the bag, it wouldn't be fashionable. Later, when cell phones were becoming more available, everyone had little charms hanging from them. I remember finding a gumball dispenser filled with little rubber charms of every colour and shape. Perhaps this was another past fad, evolving to key chain stuffed animals. When I was a kid I even had a collection of keychains, unlike my smaller collection today - mini rubber chicken, WWII airplane, my nickname, etc. This current aberration of dangling a specific "pet" from your bag feels different than these styles everyone did in the past. 

The more I study these little toys staring back at me, I wonder if these are extensions of the personalities of their owners. Do these little baubles hold some special secret to each person's soul? They aren't brand specific so the owners chose them freely depending on their attraction to them. I remember the rabbit's foot key chain, the fur pompom, and the sparkly jewel initials, but I've never seen a matching toy. Selecting a mini plushy for a bag must convey your personality or adoration, or it resembles a personality trait. Perhaps like a Pokemon character with differing strength, power and other signifying combat units. Maybe there is a private undercover battle happening everywhere, the toys signifying the contestants?

I guess I will never know?

My reason for pointing out this new fashion statement is an inquiry into this "security-blanket mentality" with our young adults. Outwardly it seems childlike to have a stuffed animal in reach everywhere you go. It seems to show weakness and insecurity, not something I would prefer written on my back. Are we all walking around with children that look like adults or is it the opposite, where those adults are yearning for their childhood?