imaginative play

Priya, Sam and Anneka will play outside with imaginative games for hours. But they don't imagine their props. The props have to be real.

Just now, I looked out to see Sam pulling the green garden wagon loaded with two bikes and one Anneka through the ditch. Priya was pushing.

Since we don't have a real horse to hitch to a wagon, they snag Molly the dog and hitch her to the green garden wagon with twine strings. Sometimes Molly is a horse to ride. Dogs don't carry people, even small people on their backs. But she endures it until she has a chance to get away.

Here in the house, toys are rarely played with as they are intended. And any stack of Ellie's blankets become articles of clothing held together with safety pins on Priya. And give Sam a roll of scotch tape and cardboard and he's happy for a long while.

But as I say that toys are not generally used as playthings around here, the kids just resurrected a few of their toys hiding down in the basement and all four of them played for a solid hour, uninterrupted by requests for snacks or fights.

Perhaps they will all require a couch and therapy in a few years. The root cause no doubt will come down to their parents who didn't provide proper direction and play things to satisfy some part of their development. But I guess that's a risk I'm willing to take.

There aren't very many years that kids are allowed to pretend and be truly imaginative. Soon it will be real life.