I read something this morning that made me wonder yet again why there isn’t some form of mental screening before people are allowed to breed. People I have my rant on, in an epic way.
For those who can be bothered it’s here.
For those who can’t be bothered the quick version is an ‘academic’ from Sydney has stated that kids should not be ‘lied’ to about Santa, the Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy. She cited that children are not always innocent and "does not serve their interests well" to pretend about such things. Go back to whatever miserable, gray and beige existence you crawled out of and stay there you joyless, imagination challenged, miserable, sour piece of humanity. So your daughter took it badly when she found out the truth? That means that we should all crush our kids dreams? Um, for an ‘academic’ you seem to be forgetting that it is imagination, fantasy, dreams starting with things such as Santa in our childhood, that has taken humanity out of the cave in the first place. While we may not have had Santa when we were living in caves we had the ability to imagine, to dream, to fantasize.
Lets start with Leonardo Da Vinci. Yon know him, that bloke who ‘doodled’ some designs for various things that were literally centuries ahead of his time. What about those ‘fantasy’ paintings of his? Just for starters, two words here people, Sisteen Chapel. Those priceless works of art are basically fantasy, Da Vinci’s fantasy or imagination of biblical moments. Without the imagination and the ability to have fantasy he would not have been able to do more than produce a shopping list and a stick figure.
Now let’s take a jump to another time. The first series of Star Trek, where Lieutenant Uhura used a cool little silver thing to hear people talk, without wires. Um, Bluetooth anyone? What about Captain Kirk and the rest of the kids, flipping their communicators open for a little chat with each other? Mobile phones much? That’s just two off the top of my head. My point here is from imagination and fantasy comes the one thing that separates humanity from the animal kingdom. We imagine, dream, even fantasize about what could be. Then, in a lot of cases we make it happen.
What about every piece of fiction? Where would that be without fantasy? Imagination? Telling a story that is basically an untruth right from the start? That could not happen without a well developed talent for fantasy, the ability to create a completely different situation, one that often has no existence in reality. A world without fantasy, dreams, imagination is a world I personally not wish to be a part of. Our ability to have fantasies is developed in childhood. Even after the Santa myth was long exposed, I still had to call in Robocop, Optimus Prime, and Power Rangers in for lunch, and later first thing in the morning remind my daughter / fairy that her wings might be working too well today so no jumping off things where she could hurt herself. Their worlds of fantasy still carried on because that is part of childhood.
Ms Faulkner’s is quoted as saying, "My oldest daughter was extremely upset when she found out about Santa; she felt like she had been lied to and it's an awful feeling," Sweetheart, that is not the daughter’s problem, that is yours. What happened to your daughter learning to question the world around her? To think through situations and come to conclusions other than what she has been told? For a child to simply take everything it is told as gospel is simply worrying. Children need to develop their abilities to absorb facts and evidence and draw conclusions from what they find. Where was your child’s development on this? Working out that fantasy figures are not real is one of the first chances for kids to start learning to think for themselves. To question. To have a child who never even thought to look at the facts and decide for themselves, instead of simply believing everything they are told is far more disturbing to me than a few years of pretending about a happy fat old man. Did you ever think for one minute the failure is with yourself? Why didn’t your daughter have that basic ability to work this out for herself just like every other child? What tools did you not provide her with to come to this conclusion? As for her coping skills, I have to question you again madam. If a child is going to have such a reaction to something like that, then where is the child’s coping skills. I would suggest here that it is in fact your own child that has been " cut off from information about the world they live in and children who are not afforded that protection are cut adrift or demonised,” by the fact she at this stage did not realise that sometimes life is not what you believed it to be.
Lee, my oldest once saw Top Gun, from that day on he dreamed, wished, fantasized about one day wearing a uniform, serving his country. Today, he is serving in Darwin, an advanced tank driver and gunner. He is 23.
Michael, my younger son, would play in the kitchen, fantasize about being a terrific chef, he would try all manner of ideas with his imagination. Today he is a qualified chef. His restaurant has been named the best in the country in it’s category. He is 19.
Katlyn dreams of being an artist, a famous one at that. She comes up with some of the most amazing ideas for pictures, and draws them. Already she is far ahead for her age with her skills. It would come as no surprise if one day she is indeed famous.
Ms Faulkner, this is why fantasy is so important in life, to wish, to dream, to learn, to question. To achieve. I pray in spite of your ideas your children grow up to learn these life long treasures are theirs too.
Rant over.
