A familiar blanket can be a small piece of security during a large change.

When everything around a person shifts at once, one unchanged object does more work than its size suggests. It carries the smell, the weight, and the ordinariness of the life before, and it gives the nerves something to recognize while the rest is unfamiliar. This is true for children and stays true for adults, who mostly just stop admitting it.

In the next move, hospital stay, or new house, keep one familiar thing out and reachable rather than packed away. For a child, let them choose which. Do not hurry anyone out of that comfort once things settle.