The lilac bush in the front yard of my grandmother’s house was enormous. It had grown to the point where it looked like an open umbrella sitting on the ground. My aunt (who is just 4 months younger than me) and I played for hours and hours under that lilac bush. It was the secret clubhouse, where we had tea parties, ate lunch, and enacted stories that transported us to another world. We became princesses or cowgirls or characters from the movies or television programs that we watched.
As children often do, we argued about things like who was going to act the role of Dale Evans and who was going to act the role of Annie Oakley. But, I felt safe and protected under that lilac bush and free to pretend and imagine with no adults around. On occasion, our pretend world would take us out from under the lilac bush to other places in the yard, where we could expand our pretend scenarios.
As cowgirls of the wild west, we would travel to the front porch, so we could mount our horses and ride off into the sunset. Our horses were the two short banisters (one on each side) of the entrance to the porch. We put our saddles on our horses (blankets) and with reins (belts) in hand, we began our journey. We spent many hours in our pretend worlds, especially in the summer months.
Child Development
Today, parents strive to give their children every opportunity possible to help them learn and prepare for their futures. At a very young age, children take part in activities that parents hope will teach them skills. or help them to discover their talents. Yes, that is a positive use of their time, but what concerns me, is that between school, homework, and activities, they have very little free time to play, explore, pretend and develop their imagination. When they do have some free time, they are on a computer, playing video games or watching television.
“The truth is, in the midst of creating a restaurant together, clomping around in grown-up shoes, or twirling around with friends in a fairytale land, children are learning to solve problems, coordinate, cooperate, and think flexibly. Imagine the skills required to turn the sandbox into a dinosaur bone excavation site!” (Bright Horizons)
What is imagination?
When you hear or read about child development terms such as “creative problem-solving abilities” or “cognitive development” what they are describing is imagination. The term “imagination” is described in many dictionaries as the act or ability to form a mental image of something that is not present to the senses or is not present in the physical world. We might refer to it as “thinking outside the box” or “dancing to the beat of a different drummer.”
It is a key ingredient to achieving success in life. If you can imagine it, you can create it or achieve it. Many of the success stories that we hear today, new technologies or new discoveries, would not have happened with only the knowledge of what is. It takes imagination to lead you to what could be.
Time to Imagine
Give your young children time to play and pretend. Let them be cowboys or cowgirls and ride their pretend horses. Let them be Annie Oakley or Dale Evans. Let them have their tea parties, or play dress-up. “Don’t rush them to homework, cleaning their room, or piano practice. Allow time for them to build a rocket ship from chairs and blankets and pretend they’re astronauts; it’s time well spent.” (Bright Horizons)
Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash
