"The childrens' blankets" or "The children's blankets"

Question

I know that when we're talking about something that is possessed collectively by all children it is "children's". What about a scenario where one of the possessed nouns belongs to each individual child?

I think it's General Reference that childrens isn't a word in the first place, so it can't take a "possessive apostrophe". — FumbleFingers, Dec 13 '13 at 01:58

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 13 '13 at 01:42

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Well, childrens isn't a word, so it's still children's. Just one more ambiguity in the English language.

answered Dec 13 '13 at 01:42

Kevin

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Where's the ambiguity? In the men's (or women's) room? – Robusto Dec 13 '13 at 01:46
@Robusto 'Children' is the plural of 'child'. So 'childrens' makes no sense. – Dec 13 '13 at 02:57
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@Robusto like the OP said, does "children's blankets" mean each child has a blanket or the children share some blankets? Men's room is clear, there's one room that belongs to (in this case is used by) multiple men. The equivalent to this question would be men's rooms, do the men own rooms individually or collectively? Though thinking about it, even normal plural possessives don't really make that distinction. – Kevin Dec 13 '13 at 15:04
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To denote that every child had a blanket say: "each child's blanket". – Mari-Lou A Dec 13 '13 at 21:45
source for this answer? – public wireless Apr 12 '20 at 03:46
See 'travellers cheques' 'customers requirements': use of the singular Saxon -genitive. 'Working mens clubs' is now so common that mens must be seen as an addition to the lexis. And childrens is arguably there too. – Edwin Ashworth May 29 '23 at 10:32

"The childrens' blankets" or "The children's blankets"

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