Fantasy vs. Reality By Miss Angela

For some time now, children have come to school sharing that they have watched movies such as Spiderman, Batman, Superman, or even Peter Pan.  They always seem to talk about the parts that scared them.  I feel parents should know that these types of fantasy experiences do not have benefits for the children at this age.  Why?  Because they do not clearly understand the difference between what is real and what is unreal. In her lecture, Reality: The Most Powerful and Integral Key to the World, Silvia C. Dubovoy, Ph.D. states, “The child must build his interior life through real experiences before he can express anything; he must take constructive material spontaneously from the external world in order to create his mind. We have to offer the child that which is necessary for his internal mental and physical life, and leave him to produce the man or woman that he or she is meant to be.”

Pinocchio’s nose growing bigger and smaller is totally believable to children under 6 or 7 years old.  It is then carried for life at a subconscious level in a fear based context. 

Young children absorb everything as real. 

Adults delight in seeing a child staring open-mouthed at fantasy stories.  But isn’t it far better to see that same reaction to real phenomena?  For example; the child can be engaged in a science experiment; a candle in limited air, or a little magnet carrying 50 paperclips. Reading a book about nature offers many options, such as; animal life or weather facts.  The young mind would surely be fascinated by the fact that no two snowflakes are ever alike, intrigued by a peacock feather or the intricacies of the parts of a flower and delighted in collecting shells at the beach. 

These foundational years (0-6 years) of a child’s life should be based on truth, situations upon which the child can rely.  He is building his world view upon which he will base future understanding of his environment and social consciousness.

A child’s consciousness can easily be contained or “boxed in” by an adult’s imagination.  That should not be the case.  Their imagination should have free reign at this awesome time in their lives. If she always has pictures associated with a story she cannot create her own unique “mind’s eye”.

Believe it or not, children love reality.  They are attracted in a healthy way to stories of family time, a boy and his dog or a girl going to the grocery store with grandma. Real stories from mom or dad or grandma or grandpa’s childhood are a great place to begin. Writing a journal on a family vacation with your child can be a great source for memories and an inspiration in the future.

The real world is what children should be given at the tender age of 0-5 years old.  By 6-7, the reasoning mind has developed (this is closer to the familiar adult mind that we know) and the child begins to know when they are being made fun of, or when things are not “real”.

In the end, it is just an issue of timing.  Parents, you can watch all your favorite fantasy movies with your child.  Just wait until they are 6 or 7 years old (“the Age of Reason”).