The Tooth Fairy (or in our case the mouse), Father Xmas, magic... these are all the familiar fantasy realms we are familiar with that fill our children's minds with a sense of wonderment and splendor. But there are more comples lines between feeding into the fantasy and teaching the reality. With Bilaal now entering the age of reasoning and the need to understand things... you know... the what, when and why age... I am constantly battling with this line.
For instance Bilaal will often ask me about the programmes or adverts he watches on T.V.
Is it real?
Are they really doing that?
Can I go there?
etc, etc
So when do i go with him on that ride of fantasy and say, yes the magical forest in the Baker's biscuit advert where all magical creatures steal the biscuits falling out of the childrens buckets is real...
or should I endeavour to teach him about the principles of marketing and not trusting and believing everything on t.v. when some beer advert makes it look like drinking it will make it snow.
Or maybe he shouldn't watch so much T.V?
But the thing is he doesn't, and its not just t.v. I want him to be a child and believe that magic is real and that wonderful things can happen if you just use your imagination, but I also want him to learn about the world and how it works.
Aah parenthood...
NIce to believe in fairies... Why take it away from them?
ReplyDeletetheres a difference between advertising lies and imaginative play... i think B should be made aware of the realities of tv - its basically feeding him information, not at all encouraging creativity or allowing him to use his own imagination.
ReplyDeleteif you allow him to believe what he sees on tv i think he will more easily buy into the false set of morals and ideals used to attract people to buy products. this is the kind of mind-feed that limits the growth of peoples own ideas and perspectives.
children ESPECIALLY in this day and age should learn to look upon the content of television critically and assess it against there own set of principles, then maybe they will be alot less impressionable later in life.
he should most definitely never stop finding animals in the clouds,creating his own fantastical ideas of fairies in the bougainvillea, monkeys dangling from the trees on the M5 (you made me believe that for years tasneem!), that dolls come alive and dance at night, extending stories you tell him to more elaborate ones... and if wants to believe that the sun shines longer the more he smiles - no harm in that!
well said Firdous
ReplyDeleteAniqah