:)

There is nothing wrong with age regression.

It’s okay to use gear such as pacifiers.

It’s okay to dress cute/little/*insert style*

You’re coping mechanism is valid.

Your trauma is real and you will heal/get better.

Little is sat on the their playmat, stuffed fox toy next to them, as they build the tallest tower ever!

"Bedtime in 10, little one. Let's get this baba drank yeah?"

"Noo, m building ma tower. Its gonna be da biggest tower ever!"

Caregiver chuckles, sighs and sips on their adult drink, knowing that in less than 5 minutes, their little one will crawl over, fox plush and all, rubbing their eyes and yawning.

They'll climb onto their caregivers lap and let them feed them their baba, as the caregivers whispers quiet praise, and singing lullabies.

By bedtime, the little one is asleep, safe and sound.

I can't live alone, not fully, not unsupervised. I have my own rented appartment, but I have to be checked on daily by my parents.

I can't work, I'm very socially stunted so I get picked on or taken advantage of EASILY by other adults. I assume everyone will be as kind as I am toward them, and despite being proven wrong multiple times, I can't stop. I suppose it makes me naive.

I can't study, I did my absolute best, but school is a very triggering environment and burnout is never too far away. My record is two weeks without being absent.

And why oh why ? Trauma, autism, other disabilities.

Give me loud wailing and sobbing and clinging to a trusted person. Give me begging to "go home" whether that home is real and reachable or not. Give me crying for parents and siblings and grandparents and *anyone* who feels safer than the present situation.

Give me stress regression. Give me trauma response regression. Give me regression as a result of someone's self-soothing ability completely imploding.

Give me the gross parts of it. In writing, in drawings, in headcanon ramblings. The tantrums with snot and spit and red faces. The potty accidents. The bedwetting. The lashing out and yelling and hitting. The physical symptoms of feeling like you're no longer in full control of your mind and body. Let me see the MISBEHAVIOR that comes with feeling like a child in a body that's too big for you when everything is SCARY. The behavior you REGRET later.

Seeing the cozy, comforting, voluntary end of agere is so important when you're using it to comfort yourself.

But the embarrassment of it goes beyond "I use pacifiers and stuffed animals to self soothe after a hard day." for a lot of people. Acknowledge and accept that, too. Please.

Like, no this character isn't using a pacifier or gripping onto a plushie or padded or wearing childing clothing, but they are hiding behind their most trusted person in the friend group, either a parental figure or close friend, when things feel too big and new.

They aren't crying out for mommy or daddy, or throwing a tantrum, but they're sobbing to themselves in the middle of the night, clutching their pillow like a person, because everything feels too big and too much

They aren't burying themselves in pacifiers, teethers, or plushies, but they're chewing on their shirt or hand when they get anxious and hugging their pillow to their chest like a lifeline

🩷 Cute + Creepy Stuffie Moodboard 🦇

Older caregivers aren't creeps.

Older babysitters aren't creeps.

Older flips aren't creeps.

Older pets aren't creeps.

Older regressors aren't creeps.

Older dreamers aren't creeps.