Are your children's make-believe scenarios as disturbing as my children's?
"Ok. Pretend you're a baby and I find you abandoned in a Kleenex box wearing nothing but a soggy blue bandanna for a diaper. I'm a one-legged waitress at a 24-hour diner and I find you in one of my booths after your parents leave you there on purpose, their tummy's full of regret and Shepherd's Pie. Instead of contacting the authorities, I decide to raise you. We get along fine for the next 18 years until I tragically die in a Special Olympics wind surfing accident, leaving you penniless and forced to work in the very diner where you found."
So maybe I elaborated a little but their imaginations are almost as bleak when they play. Someone is an abandoned baby. Someone else has a deformity. Someone dies. There's always some sort of poverty involved.
Why all the drama?
Instead, I wish they were playing happy, shining make believe.
"Ok, so we're both well-adjusted college graduates applying for grad school. In our spare time we ladle minestrone soup to the homeless and design clothes for local boutiques. We live together in an old textile factory that has been remodeled into condos. There's a hip but nutty old woman who lives next door and we spend every evening with her sipping pomegranate limeade and playing dominoes."
8 comments:
Next they'll be auditioning for The Hills. You'll be so proud.
Yes to question #1.
For some reason the mom always dies. Too much Disney? Or maybe that child is upset with me for too much time spent in the laundry room?
No, the mother doesn't just die. She is killed.
Couldn't help but comment here. My girls play similarly. There's always drama and distress involved in their make believe. It must be innate. I sort of remember doing the same thing--pretending to be hurt, deathly ill, lost, confused, etc., (I think it was because I wanted to have have all the attention). Girls are funny/crazy.
You know...pretend angst and tragedy make your real life feel and appear all that much better. I'm sure that's the psychology behind it...perhaps there's some preparing for the what if's and I really think there is an empowering element to it. They're overcoming difficulties and sometimes are the hero's to the others' misfortunes...can't always get that in real life. Bet I know who's usually in which role.
my girls play the same way. the parents are never alive. i think that's a pretty strong motif in children's and juvenile fiction...
Hi, dearie, I'm your neighbor!!!
Okay, so I'm a complete stranger who has been reading your blog for a while now (I secretly love your wit and humor...although, it's not so secret anymore).
Last week my 18 month old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I'm just barely keeping my head above the water, but we haven't sunk the ship yet. We've been encouraged to get him on a pump as soon as possible. I have one dear friend in the ward who has a ten year old with diabetes, but he's not on a pump, and I am in need of some practical insight on the topic. I remembered reading once or twice that your daughter has a pump.
I know this is crazy, coming from someone you've never met, but would you mind answering a few questions for me? I would be ever so grateful.
My email is carrie.carson@hotmail.com
Thanks a bunch,
Carrie
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