CHILD'S PLAY
I recently spent an hour playing with a four-year-old. He had an amazing amount of toys and he really was an animated, garrulous little soul - completely free of that shyness that kids sometimes have, which compells them to hide behind their mother's legs, etc.
He decided that we should play Kings and Princesses, and produced a crown which he put on his head, a sword and a bag of gold coins. We played in these roles for a while but he kept getting distracted by all his other toys (there were a lot). I decided to try to get him back on to Kings and Princesses. I thought it would be fun, and that he might enjoy, being a tyrannical King - punishing all the other toys. I suggested that Buzz Lightyear had stolen a toy car and that we should send him to prison. Or that Bob the Builder had taken some of the large gold coins and stashed them under his hard hat. For this, there could be no lesser punishment than to chop off his head.
What happened next amused me greatly: he gave me a funny look and shouted (he was LOUD, this kid), "But Bob the Builder's NOT REAL!". (It was a foam head and shoulders of Bob the Builder). I said that I knew this but it might be fun to pretend. He wouldn't have any of it. He insisted that Bob was only a toy, in a way that made me feel utterly stupid for entering into the spirit of his imaginative play.
Obviously, I didn't point out that all of the last half hour's games had been pretend and not "real". It's funny how kids - espeically when they are clever and confident, are perfectly happy to act out the most fantastical, far-fetched scenarios as long as they are directing it and "in charge". When an adult tries to suggest some pretend stuff, they suddenly act like little adults - the subtext seems to be (raising eyes to heaven) "Don't be so silly". I notice this time and again with kids. It's comical.
I recently spent an hour playing with a four-year-old. He had an amazing amount of toys and he really was an animated, garrulous little soul - completely free of that shyness that kids sometimes have, which compells them to hide behind their mother's legs, etc.
He decided that we should play Kings and Princesses, and produced a crown which he put on his head, a sword and a bag of gold coins. We played in these roles for a while but he kept getting distracted by all his other toys (there were a lot). I decided to try to get him back on to Kings and Princesses. I thought it would be fun, and that he might enjoy, being a tyrannical King - punishing all the other toys. I suggested that Buzz Lightyear had stolen a toy car and that we should send him to prison. Or that Bob the Builder had taken some of the large gold coins and stashed them under his hard hat. For this, there could be no lesser punishment than to chop off his head.
What happened next amused me greatly: he gave me a funny look and shouted (he was LOUD, this kid), "But Bob the Builder's NOT REAL!". (It was a foam head and shoulders of Bob the Builder). I said that I knew this but it might be fun to pretend. He wouldn't have any of it. He insisted that Bob was only a toy, in a way that made me feel utterly stupid for entering into the spirit of his imaginative play.
Obviously, I didn't point out that all of the last half hour's games had been pretend and not "real". It's funny how kids - espeically when they are clever and confident, are perfectly happy to act out the most fantastical, far-fetched scenarios as long as they are directing it and "in charge". When an adult tries to suggest some pretend stuff, they suddenly act like little adults - the subtext seems to be (raising eyes to heaven) "Don't be so silly". I notice this time and again with kids. It's comical.
