My 13-y-o son has umpteen kajillion stuffed animals. When he was your son’s age, he had a few he was especially attached to and wanted to take with him when we traveled, etc.
He still likes acquiring new ones and likes to go to sleep with a huge pile of them (all of which are on the floor by morning.) But he doesn’t take any of them with him when he sleeps over at friends’ houses, etc.
I wouldn’t worry about it.
This sounds like a serious problem. I urge you to use whatever measures, no matter how harsh or possibly illegal, to break him of this dangerous habit.
My mom took my stuffed animals away when I was 8 or 9 so she could shove them in the attic as keepsakes. Guess what, I just became attached to other ones. I still sleep with a stuffed animal when I sleep alone. Then again I am of the female variety, which seems to make a difference. But I would say don’t worry about it. Ten really is not as old as we seem to think it is. I have a ten year old half brother that I would almost guarantee still sleeps with a stuffed animal and worked with ten year olds at a day camp all summer that I would bet were the same way. Even if they wouldn’t have admitted it 
I am 29 and I still sleep with a stuffed animal. Softer and smaller (and cuter) than a huggin’ pillow.
My 34 year old husband can’t sleep without a pillow to wrap his arms around.
Don’t worry about it.
All right, so be it. The animals get a stay of execution!!
Thanks for the input guys.
This just in: CairoCarol agrees with 100% of the above posters!
But I had to weigh in anyway, because my son has a 12-year old friend who is a really great boy, the kind of son any parents could be proud of. This intelligent, sensitive, mature child, who is a wonderful influence on my sometimes self-centered son, confides in me and my husband that his own dad denigrates him because he likes knitting and stuffed animals. He’ll say things like “oh, I really like this, but I couldn’t tell my dad about it…” That’s really sad.
Our two families went out together a while ago, and it was this boy’s birthday. He wanted to get a bear from … what the heck is that place, they call it “the bear factory” or something, where you create your own stuffed bear with accessories and clothes. This boy collects them, and knew exactly what he wanted.
So, at least his parents let him do it. And I don’t think it bothers his mom much. But in the store, his dad was hissing at him “so, how old are you, anyway?” and clearly putting his son down. I had to walk away, because it was very uncomfortable and none of my business.
But you can bet that when he comes to our house, no one will make fun of his interests.
Any kid who likes knitting and is shunned by a parental unit has a welcome place in my house. Boys Don’t Knit. Haven’t read it, but I wants it for my knitting library.
My ten year old boy loves his stuffed animals and takes crap from some of his friends. The fact that he is 40-50 pounds heavier and freakishly stronger and an all A student, wrestler and football player, they know if they mess with Ernie and Mr. Rabbit (a pig and a rabbit) they will get a pounding that is fully approved of by Mom. And mom might even jump in on the fracas, dragging in the parents for raising such little insensitive dickweeds.
I let my kids choose their battles and let them decide when to draw a line and when to cross the line and if a line should be crossed at all, but you don’t mess with stuffed animals. You.just.don’t.
I (female) started out sleeping with an entire bed full of stuffed animals, which was gradually whittled down over the years to just the one (oldest and best-loved) stuffy, who is now sitting in a box in my closet with the rest of the poly-filled herd to be handed down to the theoretical next generation.
It took until I was in high school to shed the majority of the pack, and the one favorite stuck with me until college, but I turned out okay. 
As long as he’s only using it/them to sleep and seems otherwise undisturbed during the day, let it roll. He’ll sort it out on his own eventually.
I would suggest having a little chat with him and explaining that while you don’t care about them, his friends would likely have a field day if they found out he was still sleeping with stuffed animals. He may not understand as yet exactly how demonic preteens/teens can be when presented with the right ammunition.
Much to my shame, I know that my friends and I would have teased a kid mercilessly had we found out something like that about him.
I hear they have a teeny tiny plush patch for it now.
Or you could transition him down to beanie babies. Don’t make him quit cold turkey, though, that’s just cruel. It’s a dangerous habit, sure, but it’s a disease and let’s recognize it as such, mmkay?
So not only were you going to take them away, you were going to torture and kill them in ever more creative ways as he looked on in horror?
Sounds fair.
My daughter-in-law is 34, a physician, a professor in a medical school and in charge of the residency program of a large hospital. She also has a stuffed animal that she loves to hold. I cannot see that it has done her the least harm.
Ummm, why would this become common knowledge? Many many kids sleep with security objects. The fact that the OP’s son is doing well with the stress of divorce (I assume) and the weekend visits is all good. My boys had their stuffies, my nieces still have theirs too. No biggy.
Only a moron for a parent would announce to their kid’s friends that their child sleeps with a security object. (IMHO of course!)
I’m a 30 year old male, and I sleep with a really soft throw pillow I bought at Brookstone (along with 2 larger, standard sized pillows). It’s not animal-shaped or anything, but it’s pleasing to hug it at night when I go to sleep.
So, no big deal.
(I also had a stuffed animal when I was a a kid. I was given Moe - actually, a curious george doll - when I was born, and he was my companion during my toddler years. Moe stayed on my bed until I was 12 or so, before he eventually went into storage and then was lost - I consider that a tragedy, since he came from my now-deceased grandmother and represents my childhood. Based on that experience, I’d suggest that you allow your child to naturally grow out of his desire for the stuffed animal. But, when he finally does, be sure to put it in a safe place, because it will one day be a nostalgic reminder of halcyon days gone by.)
I am a pillow hugger, had lots of stuffed animals when I was a kid. I just sleep better with stuff in my arms, both from a skeletal support perspective and protection of my vulnerable soft underbelly
I didn’t read CutterJohn’s post as saying he was going to tell his son’s friends about the stuffed animals. I read it as saying they might find out about them. Maybe they would come over and see the stuffed animals on the bed, or something like that.
A 10-year-old boy is a tough, big guy shell with a soft childlike center. He may seem all grown up most of the time, but he’s still a kid. Such a small percentage of our lives are spent in childhood. No need to rush that along.
When he hits puberty, the stuffed animals will become less important. By the time he is high school, they will end up in the closet.
But NEVER get rid of them. They will always be important to him on some level. Only he can decide if/when the time comes to dispose of them.
My 24-year-old still has his mangled panda doll on his shelf. Just a reminder of an old friend. If anyone were to give him any crap about it, he would probably punch them in the face.
I still have my 26-year-old sons Bobby doll. He is still wearing the army clothes I made him when my son got a little older, (they made him seem more like a tough guy doll). Bobby is family. No one pays any attention to him, while he occupies his space on the shelf. But he will remain in existence till he turns to dust.
Neither of my grown sons are less of a man for keeping their childhood friends as mementos. Part of the reason why bigger kids still sleep with them is habit, like how we might have a favorite pillow we can’t sleep without. My oldest had a habit of bunching up Bobbys hair and poking himself in the space between his eye and nose to calm himself to sleep. Strange habit, I know. But that was Bobbys purpose in life. Not so much a doll as a swatch of hair. If he were to pick up Bobby today, the doll would go right to his eye, just to remember the feel.
So no, leave the boy and his stuffed animals alone. He will outgrow them when he is ready. Just be glad he is sleeping with 3 stuffed animals, and not some slutty little 10-year-old neighbor girl.
Precisely… Kids, especially young boys, can be incredibly cruel. A helpful hint that he may not want his friends to find out about them would probably be a good thing.
Yep. My parents basement flooded 4 years ago, and little bro and I lost a lot of our childhood keepsakes. He was relieved that some of his stuffed animals made it through okay, and he was twice as old as Shakes little boy.
A lot of adults, myself included, sleep with a stuffed animal on the bed (mine’s newborn Simba) so I agree with people that there’s nothing wrong with a small boy doing so.
No, what’s “psychologically unhealthy” is needing a security blanket and not having one.