My daughter has loved and believed in magic her whole life & I wouldn’t change it for anything!! She has always enjoyed the magic of a jolly, fat man bringing good will and gifts to cheer children. She has had a family of fairies that she has fed chocolate brownies on mini tea sets. We have made fairy houses since she was little. We have had every magical holiday possible, even our very own, made up holiday on May 1st that we celebrate as “Fairy day.” Her childhood has been full of magic, whimsy and wonder.
So, a few of her younger cousins have adored my daughter’s whimsical fairy land & always watch and wonder as she tells them imaginative stories of magic. My daughter loves to nurture the wonder and magic in her tiny cousins. It is so fun!!
So, a couple of these tiny cousins (who are under the age of 10) have wished and made their own fairy houses in hopes of having their own piece of magic. Well, I happened to find a couple of the same fairies that my daughter has on Amazon for a crazy low price, so I told my daughter that maybe we should surprise her little cousins & leave them on their door step with a special fairy note. My daughter was SO excited and knew the little girls would LOVE it!! We put our plan into action, ordered them & then went about delivering them.
It was SO FUN!! One of her tiny cousins parents were going on an overnighter, so we were invited to come over for the evening and play. We knew this would fit very well into our fairy delivery. We went and played for a couple of hours, I snuck out of their house & grabbed the fairy from my car & left it on their porch. About an hour later the kids were all walking out the front door to go on and walk & what did they find???
A special fairy box with a note addressed to the two youngest little girls. They were SO excited & instantly began trying to figure out where to put the fairy, how to make her bed…it was a flurry of excitement. Even the young boys in the family began talking about making a ladder and hammock out of sticks and leaves. It turned into a creative spring of JOY for everyone!! It was so fun. Their little imaginations ran wild with excitement. It went on for hours…special lighting, a special rock for food, an acorn trail…It was so fun!!
The next day when the parents arrived home to hear all about the new arrival, their Dad told them he didn’t believe in fairies.
I heard this and my heart sank. I felt so bad.
So, my question is this. Who nurtures imagination and creativity? Children are naturally creative and have an imagination, but if adults so easily squash the magic, the whimsy, the imagination—what happens?
I think we have a role as parents to encourage creative play, to foster their imagination, to ‘play along’ to help them develop their own stories, to write their own endings & not have the ‘adult’ come in and squash the child dreams or the childlike wonder that seeks to find its voice. That is my opinion.
I think this video (below) perfectly illustrates the child vs the adult perspective. Perspectives change, so let our children be little, let them dream, let them imagine having mermaid tails or shark mouths. Let them be little. Let them create their world of their youth, because the world will take it away soon enough. If we don’t nurture their childhood, who will?
I LOVE this video. Enjoy.
Nurture their dreams, put them to bed with stories of wonder, give them gifts that delight in magic. Childhood is too short, so let them be dreamers, creators and let us help them explore their imaginations.
This is also a great video on this topic. Love it!!
Here is another article on ways to nurture your child’s imagination https://www.bubhub.com.au/hubbub-blog/5-simple-ways-to-nurture-your-childs-imagination/
Have a beautiful day. -H
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