Having Imagination

[Linnis]

I've heard this before and it's come up again. Unless I push ideas like Santa, fairies, magic etc etc my child will have no imagination and his childhood will be lost.


I didn't buy it when my parents tried to get me to believe in Santa. I mean half eaten carrot and all. :shifty


I remember having a really good imagination including having an imaginary friend.


So will I be messing my son up for life if I don't make a big deal out of these types of ideas?

[Myrtle]

I certainly hope not b/c we don't intend to push any of those ideas either. :no

I can understand how those things can be used to foster a child's imagination, but I can also see how there are plenty of other ways to foster imagination also. My dd is 3, and trust me, she has an extremely active imagination. :yes And we've talked about Santa and how that's just a nice man dressed up at Christmas time, and all. I mean, we don't sheild her from those things b/c they're all over the place and it's just not practical, but we do talk about them and how they aren't true and how they differ from real things. But we do that with cartoons like Clifford too. She gets a kick out it when we talk about how funny it would be if a real dog was as big as our house. I don't think I'm killing her imagination by doing that stuff. :shifty

[Ali]

Not at all! I did not grow up in a home that "believed" in Santa, etc, and I had/have ;) a huge imagination. We did the whole tooth fairy thing, but we always knew it was my mom! It was still plenty fun!
I've always told my DS that Santa Claus is pretend and some families like to pretend he leaves gifts at Christmas time. I tell him that magic is tricks that are fun to watch, and I've shown him some simple tricks.
He has the biggest imagination I have ever seen. He has a variety of imaginary friends and is always coming up with creative pretending games to play.

[loveberry]

Alex has tons of imagination. I've never told him about Santa or the Tooth Fairy as if they are real but I will pretend with Alex if he shows a desire for that kind of fun pretend play.

He finds imagination and "magic" and pretend stories and all that sort of fairy tale stuff in all kinds of areas of his life without me pretending weird strangers can break into our house to leave gifts. ;)

[illinoismommy]

I haven't and my son has a really great imagination.

[Lila]

I stopped believing in Santa and the tooth fairy when I was about four and people have always told me that I have a lot of imagination. :shrug. Honestly, I think most children are imaginative anyway. :)