If kids use weighted stuffed animals to help them fall asleep every night, for instance, they may become reliant on them at bedtime, otherwise known as a sleep onset association, she says.

"Weighted stuffed animals usually weigh between 1 pound and 5 pounds," explains Holly Schiff, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist with South County Psychiatry.

How kids can watch them: Crows breed in spring and summer, so that’s a great time for kids to observe nesting. Once eggs hatch, Marzluff says children can watch crow parents tend to their young ...

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Newport News woman has handmade over 400 stuffed animals for kids in crisis, something that has become an asset for police and fire crews.

“Simply being there as a companion for [the animals] and reading to them is one of the best ways that we can be there and be close to them,” she said. The reading works its magic on the kids too.