Posts Tagged ‘imagination’

Time to Pretend

Friday, July 8th, 2016

From Friday Mom – Erin:
Rory has started pretending much more frequently.  And it’s great fun to play along.

This past weekend, Rory and I pretended to be bears roaming the playground while we were visiting his grandparents’ house.  We ran around in the mulch, roaring and giggling together.  We hid in “caves”; we ate “bear snacks”; we played “Mommy Bear” and “Daddy Bear”; and Charlotte even joined us briefly as “Baby Bear.”  Clearly he enjoyed it, because he started roaring the next day at a couple little girls he met on the same playground.  They loved it almost as much, letting him chase them round and round through tunnels and down slides, roaring and shrieking in turn.

Earlier this week, I helped him go on a Monster Hunt in the playroom.  After all, there were big, big monster shadows that we needed to hunt down and get rid of.  So what does any good mom confronted with monster shadows do?   Why go on a Monster Hunt, of course!

I’m happy to be able to help indulge Rory’s creativity as he creates new narratives in his mind.  I love watching him stretch his creative juices, and I cannot help but giggle some times at the elaborate stories he concocts and shares.  I cannot wait until he’s able to start writing some of it all down.  All in good time, I am sure.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am pretty sure I see a monster shadow I must tend to.

Princesses

Monday, November 23rd, 2015

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
Today, I have for your reading pleasure a rare interview with princess expert Haley, aged four:

Q: Tell me about princesses.

A: “They are really pretty and wear fancy dresses. And they, um, and they have a prince to talk with. Each of them have a prince to talk with.”

Q: And what is special about being a princess?

A: “Treating kindness and being nice.”

Q: Who is your favorite princess?

A: “Jasmine.”

Q: Why?

A: “It’s ‘cuz she looks so beautiful and I love her shoes.”

Q: What do princesses do for fun?

A: “Um, having a tea party?”

Q: What does a princess wear?

A: “A dress.”

Q: Can she wear pants or another outfit if she wants?

A: “Yeah, like Jasmine.”

Q: Where does a princess live?

A: “In a castle!”

Q: With whom?

A: “Um, a prince? And a king and a queen?”

Q: Have you ever met a princess?

A: “Yes! Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White.”

The princess obsession is here to stay, so I figure I may as well embrace it. I am happy to hear the princesses she admires so are kind and nice—even if part of her admiration is due to their fancy footwear! I’m a bit over princesses myself, but I’ll hang in there as long as I need to. I know the days she’s willing to share her interests with me won’t last forever. I can handle dresses and tea parties if it means fun times with my little girl.

Story Time

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

From Friday Mom – Jaime:
To be a good lawyer, you have to be a good storyteller. The ability to present the facts and law as a compelling argument is a skill. Some of us are excellent at weaving our best tales on paper; others are the most masterful on their feet. But whether you’re better in writing or aloud, either way, you have to captivate your audience with your words…

At night, as we put Andrew to bed, we read books. I read him one, and Daddy reads him one. Andrew has introduced into this ritual telling US stories. They all begin something like this, “When I was a baby, my Nana took care of me and…” What follows is some utterly fabricated story about what Andrew did one day while my mother was watching him.

The first story was a tale of a hockey game that she took him to, where they watched a match-up of the Devils and the Ewers (which, to my knowledge are NOT a hockey team) and Nana LOVED the hockeys because no one fought and no one cheated and everyone won…

His next story began one day when he was a baby and he was playing with his water table in Nana’s backyard. What happened next involved complex plots and subplots, multiple characters with names like “Tardy,” “Juice Box” and “Greener Pastures” (a bear, rhino and bunny, respectively) and had me in tears it was so funny.

I generally text these stories to my mom, who tells me how amazing it is he has such a good imagination. Other reactions (not from her, of course) range from “He’s so smart” and “You do have other family members” to “What in the world is he talking about????”

I keep trying to remind myself that this is exactly what he’s supposed to be doing. That making up these stories is leading to the development of a good imagination and healthy – not that he’s creating some bizarre fantasy world he’d rather live in where bunnies named “Radish Muncher” prance around showing off their oh-so-cool sunglasses and bathing suits…

I really need to write all these stories down for him and make them into a book. One that I promise I will not break out at his bar mitzvah or in front of his girlfriend when she comes over to the house. (Yes, I realize I have memorialized this in writing – in front of MANY witnesses – so I have to keep my word on this).

The truth is, I can’t wait to hear what he comes up with tonight!

Have a good weekend everyone