Imagination

Little kids have this stuff in abundance, and yet somewhere along the way we all seem to lose it. Where does it go? I remember playing all sorts of involved imaginary games when I was little, but now when Rosie asks me to play with her I struggle to even know how.

In Rosie's world there are imaginary friends - her most permanent one is a little mouse called Skitter, who has a baby sister and baby brother who are twins! These friends accompany her everywhere and are always available to play. Playdough is a magic substance from which all kinds of things can be created: monsters, goods for her baker's shop, hair extensions for her toy giraffe - the possibilities are endless. She can play in her room for ages, creating involved story lines between her various dolls and animals.

And her artwork is beautiful and immensely creative. Within the last week she has made all kinds of animals by cutting out pieces of paper and sticking them together with stickers. She has made a hat, a pop-up card for me, a crocodile's mouth and painted some gorgeous pictures.

I feel bad, because I was never any good at art as a child. I was criticised and I hate to do things I'm not good at, so I hate doing art. My challenge over the next little while is to get more involved in Rosie's creations and to overcome my dislike for something I find difficult for the greater good of connecting with my daughter as she expresses herself.

Even Saoirse is starting to use her imagination - all sorts of strange things become hats, she pretends to feed her baby doll, and she comes up with some very creative ways of getting her point across with her signs. Most recently, she paired 'cat' with 'horse'. It took me a while to figure it out, but eventually I realised that she was telling me she wanted to ride on her lion rocker!!

Perhaps, with my children to teach me I will relearn how to use my imagination - they're already reminding me of all the magic in world.