The next time you want your child to fall in love with the prickly stuffed sea otter that you’ve been saving since your college days because of that niggling thought, “I guess I should hold onto that; every kid should have a sea otter”, finally resolve to sell it in a garage sale.

I’m telling you, the moment that sea otter hits the “out-going” pile, your child will need a prickly stuffed sea otter in the worst way. She’ll gleefully exclaim things like, “But, LOOK: He fits right over my arm!!” and “This is my little porcupine and I need to babysit him.” and “Aw, I think my raccoon is teething. Can you see his cute little teeth coming through?”

So, I’m back into the niggling.

What’s your vote: should the sea otter stay or go?

(I had heard that this kind of thing happens around garage sale season; now I can say I’m a veteran.)