(This was written about a year ago, but I never posted it)
When I started writing this blog, my intention was for it to be about me and not my children. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of merely mentioning them a little instead of dedicating entire blog posts to them, however because I’m home with them all day, it’s at times difficult to separate my life from theirs. With that being said, this post is going to be about my daughter’s wild, active imagination!
Daughter has a friend in her class at school named Melanie*. I’ve never really seen the two girls interact much, aside from saying hello and goodbye to each other. To be fair, since I’m not in the classroom with them, this is really the only interaction I see between Daughter and any of her friends! Well, for whatever reason, Daughter has been pretending that Melanie comes over to play in our backyard. Last week, I went to dinner and a movie with my sister and soon-to-be sister-in-law and “pretend Melanie” happened to be over playing. Daughter told me that “Melanie” would be spending the night, but since she had forgotten her jammies, would be borrowing Daughter’s. I told her that was fine, that “Melanie” was more than welcome to stay the night. I was pretty stunned that she was still pretending “Melanie” was over, so I figured I would encourage the act to see how long it lasted. My husband walked the kids to the sushi restaurant down the street from us and Daughter kept up the charade of having “Melanie” along. Apparently, they had to stop walking a few times so “Melanie” could catch up and Daughter could be heard saying, “come on, Melanie, you need to walk faster!” At the restaurant, Daughter insisted that “Melanie” also have some soy sauce on a plate next to her. Once they arrived home, Daughter got ready for bed and pulled out the second set of jammies for “Melanie” and then later on told my husband to be quiet because “Melanie” was asleep on the couch. The next morning, I asked Daughter if she had a good time with “Melanie” and how the two girls slept. Daughter looked at me and answered, but then said, “not the real Melanie, the pretend one.” I guess I was doing such a good job at playing along that she felt the need to clarify that the real friend was never at our house and to make sure that I wasn’t beginning to see things.
Now, to some people, this whole imaginary friend thing might be cause for concern. Perhaps I should have my child looked at to make sure she’s “normal.” Personally, I love it! As a child, I had a very active imagination and was always making up pretend lives and families so this latest chapter in Daughter’s life is one that I have waited for and am so thrilled it’s upon us so soon in her life. I always said if my children were to inherit anything from me, I wanted it to be my imagination. As society changes, and children are talking on their cell phones and using their iPads, I want so desperately to give my children a real childhood, where they can run around and play and read actual books and play board games. Call me old-fashioned, but if encouraging my children to use their imaginations will help them maintain an extra ounce of their childhood, I will move Heaven and Earth to do so. There, I said it.
*Name has been changed
