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Security Blankets
简体
Security Blankets
安全毯

Learn English with this childhood English lesson

Date: May 24 2013

Grammar: Simple Past Tense

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Did you have a security blanket when you were little? Something that you took everywhere and needed to fall asleep? Security blankets are comforting to children, especially if they’re scared of the dark. Some kids believe their blankets will keep nightmares away. Other kids become attached to a favorite teddy bear or pacifier. Do you remember yours?

Adults seem to keep security blankets for mostly sentimental reasons. Maybe people like remembering a time when all of their problems could be solved by hugging a blanket or bear. It’s fun to look for childhood mementos in old boxes and experience the nostalgia.

在你小的时候,你是否有条安全毯?或者,是否有你随身携带并且在睡觉时需要的东西?安全毯会让孩子们感到踏实,特别是当他们害怕黑暗时。一些孩子相信,他们的安全毯会赶走噩梦。另一些孩子会依赖他们最爱的泰迪熊或奶嘴。你还记得你依恋的东西吗?

成年人保留安全毯,似乎更多是出于感情需要。或许人们喜欢回忆抱一抱毯子或是泰迪熊,就可以解决所有问题的年代。在老旧的盒子里寻找儿时的纪念品,然后感怀一下逝去的岁月,也是件很有趣的事。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Lily

Lily

Greta

Greta

Lily:   Greta?

Greta:  Yes?

Lily:  Do you still have a security blanket?

Greta:  Yes, I do.

Lily:   Really?

Greta:   Well, I have the second generation security blanket.

Lily:   What’s that?

Greta:   My mom made a quilt when she was pregnant with me. It was homemade, and it was this beautiful quilt of a bunny. I slept with it every night and I carried it with me everywhere and it disintegrated. This was, like, five years ago. She had a new quilt made that was identical to the first quilt. So now as an adult, I have my original security blanket back.

Lily:  That’s so cool!

Greta:  It’s on my couch and I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow it. I am under it every time I watch TV. I have my security blanket around me.

Lily:   That’s so great! I have mine, too, but mine is completely still torn to shreds. It’s basically only got sentimental value now. It’s kind of like a tattered rag at this point that used to have a duck on it. You know?

Greta:   It’s so funny. It seems like kids just have this compulsion to have one thing that they attach all of this sentiment and connection to. I don’t know if I’ve ever known a kid who didn’t have something… either a stuffed animal or a blanket or something that they just carried around with them.

Lily:   Pacifier!

 

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Discussion

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Lily and Greta are remembering what it was like to have a security blanket. Greta’s was a quilt that she used so much that it disintegrated, so her mom made a new one for Greta five years ago.

Lily thinks it’s pretty cool that Greta still has a security blanket after all these years, especially since Greta uses it every day. Lily has hers, too, but it’s not in great condition.

What kind of security blanket did you have when you were a kid? Do you still have it? Why do you think children need security blankets?

 

Comments

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Thyphuong

Thyphuong

Viet Nam

I don’t have a security blanket , but I  have a doll that my mom bought for me since I was around 7 or 8 years old . I remember that I used to hold it every night I was in bed, and I had a safe feeling as if  a good friend were always there for me.

07:31 AM Jun 23 2015 |

timchang

Germany

A security blanket or something similar for a boy in the US???  What happened to the fear-nothing attitude the US used to have to settle the wild wild west when little boys grew up fast and brave?  It’s so sad that this great US of A has lost many of its fine traditions and values over the past 30 years.   

03:22 PM Sep 16 2013 |

jodatrail

jodatrailSuper Member!

Switzerland

When I was a boy I had a white nappy as a “security blanket”. I even had two when I got older. When I was about ten years old, I always had to find both of them, otherwise I couldn’t sleep. I had to have both in front of my face and bury my nose in them, then I felt safe and comforted. Today, I have a stuffed toy dog. I bought it ten years ago. The dog really is a character. That’s why I take it sometimes with me when I’m traveling. I sometimes even speak to my to dog. That’s my secret – so don’t tell anyone!

01:06 PM May 29 2013 |

javier armando

Peru

It´s essential for every kid to have a security blanket as a way   to develop affective feelings what within  a nearby future will evolve into affection for their near love ones.

04:53 AM May 29 2013 |

shaerwan

shaerwan

Syrian Arab Republic

i had a (something that baby has it in his mouth and suck it idont know wat it is callen in english)


and i loved it so much


02:46 PM May 26 2013 |

cloud

cloud

Qatar

I have never had a security blanket when I was kid, but
my little sister has a security blanket
and she can’t sleep without it. $:
Thank you,
for the useful lessons that
you provide to us. ( :

01:04 PM May 26 2013 |

pratik_patel

India

I did not have security blanket when I was a kid. But now a days it is hard to find any kid without their teddy bear or dolls or toys. They keep their favourite ones with them all the time.

10:15 AM May 26 2013 |

park216

South Korea

Haha, yeah, I used to have many security blankets like toy or playing game as a lovely little. In the dark night, you felt so afraid that you could’nt move in bed without them, and which taking everywhere and chatting with all day. haha, I’m sure that the part of children do so!

01:52 AM May 26 2013 |

shvan.toomare

Iraq

actully, I didn’t have security blanket as achild , but i think it’s a good things to childhood to make them feel comforting when their parents are not around them .. but actully ia have a cute toy I’ve said to my brother and sisters its min don’t therw away :) or give a child as a prize 

08:22 PM May 25 2013 |

Sphenothalami

Syrian Arab Republic

Thank you E-Baby for providing this new lesson, its title is new for me, I really like this lesson, I like your ability to provide a topic to be discussed, I mean, in a daily life, no one talks about security blankets, so I’m amazed at your topics that you provide, it makes everyone who reads it interested in going through the discussion.



I didn’t have a security blankets when I was a child,  my cousin, has security blankets, and I think she hold it because it feels save and secure.

05:27 PM May 25 2013 |

lily984

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I didn’t have a security blanket as a child. However, I had a doll which I thought needed to be secured, so I used to hug it sleeping.

11:13 AM May 25 2013 |

omar saidi

omar saidi

Tanzania, United Republic Of

When I was a Beby my Mam was enough a security Blankets because she proved all the time I have to be ata good conditon , forexample if I was crying she concentrated whats the problem I had . also when I felt sleep she used to carry me at the back this way is famous in our I sland and she used a Kanga(woman dressing )

10:19 AM May 25 2013 |

mahdi007

mahdi007

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

yeah.its come back to 10years ago that i have police car.i had good time whit them :D

09:42 AM May 25 2013 |

jhalap9587

India

Actually humans is like that they immediately attached with things with whom they spent sometime. wheather it is living things or non living things.


please comment on my sentence i am beginer in english

09:37 AM May 25 2013 |

saba2

saba2

Iraq

I  didnt have one becouse my mom told me that God save us not the blanket and i told that to my kids

07:21 AM May 25 2013 |

1 person likes this

seungmanlee68

South Korea

Actually, I didn’t have any security blanket. But after I believed in God, I usually bring the bible everywhere. When I feel so not good or feel afraid about something, I often read it loudly or listen to it using smart phone. After meditate on some bible words for a few minutes, I feel comfortable.  It’s my security blanket. One day, I saw my son hugged a pillow with cute pictures when he used it from infant ages. I asked him what made you to cling to it? He told me that I always felt to relax with it. I realized that many people have a nostalgia to go back to childhood.

02:52 AM May 25 2013 |

haitham4vip

Egypt

when u are a child or a carzy one or sick should take it

05:50 PM May 24 2013 |

1 person likes this

katyushka

katyushka

Ukraine

I didn’t have security blanket or toys when I was a child. I live in house and mother always told me, that we were save because our dog guard us.

05:47 PM May 24 2013 |

Stephieee

Stephieee

Poland

I didn’ need a security blanket when I was a child. My parents hugged me and all my fears disappeared. It’s a simple and it’s always works :)

04:16 PM May 24 2013 |

snoopyboy

snoopyboy

Antarctica

    I never had a security blanket when I was a kid. Today as a grown-up man, I feel proud to say that I don’t  curl up under any stuffed animal when I’m lounging in a living room watching a scary movie : ).  I do, however, have this one t-shirt that I hold to my bosom, figuratively of course :). Although it’s bleached stained in the most obvious parts, it still is dear to me.  I feel attached to this garment like none I’d had before or after it. To others, it might look like a tattered rag, but you say that to me I’d be so distraught that you might as well kick a puppy in front of me. It is my second skin!.  I have had it for almost a decade, but I don’t associate it with any particular time of my past nor does it remind me of anyone. I just get a kick of positive energy and confidence whenever I make physical contact with this shirt; sometimes I even use it as my pillow case. I wouldn’t trade this fetish item for the moon, not even for Michael Jackson’s Thriller jacket :)


Why do I think children need security blankets?


    I’m not against any kid that has this one item they love dearly and can never outgrow. But “need” (a security blanket) is a tad too strong for my comfort :). If I’m graced to become a parent one day, I would worry that my child is attached too strongly to a security blanket of any form. By “too strongly” I mean I don’t want my kid to throw an infinite tantrum just because we forgot to bring “Boo-boo bear” with us on a family trip and act out his frustration by not partaking in any recreational activity that we set out to do. I would worry that he could turn into one of those estranged kids I’ve seen in so many Hollywood movies :)

03:57 PM May 24 2013 |

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