Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work & School Day

What the day is

Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work and School Day is observed on October 14. The instruction is literal, and the school half is considerably easier to act on than the office half.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

In schools it has a clear practical use. October is far enough into the term that the novelty of a new classroom has worn off, and a familiar object from home reduces anxiety for younger children in a way adult reassurance often cannot. Teachers use bear days for exactly this, and frequently attach reading or writing exercises to them.

The adult half is more interesting. Surveys on the subject repeatedly find that a substantial proportion of adults still own a childhood soft toy, and a meaningful number admit to sleeping with it or taking it when traveling. The figures vary with how the question is asked, and the consistent finding across them is that people under-report until asked anonymously.

There is nothing pathological in it. Objects tied to early memory carry a real associative weight, and comfort objects are a recognized part of how people regulate stress across the lifespan, not only in childhood. The workplace version of the same instinct is already everywhere, in the photographs, mugs and small objects people put on their desks.

The bear itself has a documented history: the toy took its name after Theodore Roosevelt declined to shoot a captured bear in 1902 and a newspaper cartoon of the incident circulated widely.

How to take part

• Check the school's position before sending a bear in, and label it clearly.
• Send a bear the child will not be devastated to lose, rather than the irreplaceable one.
• Attach it to something: have the child write or draw about the bear's day.
• In an office, judge the room. A small bear on a desk is charming; insisting colleagues acknowledge it is not.
• Repair rather than replace an old one. A washed and restitched bear is still the same bear.