Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Wonder and Fear

My two year old, Claire, ran straight through the front door, bursting with news to share with a particular member of the family about her trip to Grammy's house.

"Look, Lloyd. Grammy gave me chalk. It's red and orange and pink," she said over and over again excitedly. He listened patiently, while sniffing the pieces of chalk she held under his nose.

Yes, Lloyd is our cat. He is Claire's good friend.

I was grateful to Lloyd, the cat, for being so obliging. I was in awe of the magical world of my child.

In Claire's world, sticks of chalk might as well be nuggets of gold. Cats are confidants who will be sure to concur with you on just about anything you tell them. The world is surprising and new and everything is possible.

But wonder has a shadow side, too.

"Pink scary," Claire said, while we were at Grammy's house. She gestured to the bathroom door with one hand and clung to my pants with the other. Grammy's pink satin robe hung on the back of the door. Claire became fixated on it as unfamiliar and mysterious -- an object of terror.

children's_fears

I tried to coax her toward the door to look at it. I wanted her to believe that the robe was something mundane and ordinary. I wanted to talk her out of her fear.

"Look," I said. "It's like a coat. See the buttons."

Sometimes, reassurance does the trick. Not this time. For all Claire knew, the robe was going to leap off the hanger and swallow her whole.

I started thinking about how fear springs from the same place as wonder. I stopped trying to reassure her. I decided just to be with her.

Each night, Claire sees the moon and I swear she believes it has risen for her and her alone. With great joy, I go along with her on this flight of fancy. I realized that I need to be able to roll with her when she's suspicious of the everyday too.

In time, Claire won't see the world as such a magical place anymore. For now, I want to treat this magical world with respect and empathy.


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Photo Source: Capture Queen, Flickr. This photo has been adapted and does not suggest that the licenser endorses me, this blog or its use. License.

31 comments:

  1. Allie still sees the magic of this world. She sees the fairies and the wonder. I love that I can live through her world..

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  2. I hear you there ... I wish we could just bottle up that magic so she can hold on to it forever.

    ¤´¨)
    ¸.•*´
    (¸¤ Lanaya | xoxo
    www.raising-reagan.com

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  3. The world IS magical and full of wonder. We just forget. :)

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  4. I love the part about the moon rising just for Claire...so sweet :)

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  5. She's so smart!

    (Pink robes are scary, after all....)

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  6. Awww...you are such a good mother to her! I agree with what Rosey said--the world is still a magical place--we do forget---but as a parents we need to keep that belief alive in our children.

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  7. Aww, so sweet and innocent. She will always enjoy her magical place and always remember the good times she had there, even when she does grow up. :)

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  8. I love an obliging cat!! I try hard to see the world through my childrens eyes as it is a much better perspective than what the reality is.

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  9. They grow up so fast, encourage the wonder and innocence. Lovely post. You are a great mother.

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  10. I love this post...so precious. :)

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  11. we have so many 'magical' things we do. I love reenforcing these precious moment and keeping the magic alive as long as possible.
    loved this post :)

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  12. I love your blog name! I really like it when parents just take the time to sit and enjoy what their child is going through instead of fighting it.

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  13. Their magical view doesn't last long- I'm trying to embrace it as well.

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  14. You're right to embrace your daughter's magical world - it's unbelievable how fast they grow up and lose that magic.

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  15. Seeing the magic in this world is a wonderful gift, and good on you for not trying to stamp it out in your daughter!
    xx

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  16. I play into the magic with the kids. I have a few that think the moon follows us, we have birthday fairies for the girls, birthday monsters for the boys that drop off little things overnight or deliver things to school. I always go along with fairies help the flowers and whatever else they can think of. :) It doesn't last forever!
    Found you through Linkin with my Ladies :)

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  17. You are so completely right. Sometimes it's hard and you want to "move along." But sometimes realizing that what they see is not what you see makes things so much better. I need to remind myself of that more often!

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  18. Beautifully written.
    Isn't it funny the things that kids are scared of? It always amazes me.

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  19. I love, love, love seeing the magic of the world through my children's eyes! Your post captured it perfectly!

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  20. For now it's so nice to enjoy and we should use their perception as motivation and to let go and enjoy more often. Visiting from Joy of Motherhood link. Happy Mother's Day

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  21. It's lovely to hear children describe the world through their own little innocent eyes. It makes the world all the more wonderful to live in - like a real life fairy tale!

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  22. Aww... That is so cute. I love it when children see the world magically like that :). Thanks for sharing this! If you have a chance, stop by The SHOW OFF Blog Party happening on my side of the blog world! Happy Mommies Day!!

    Jessica
    The Wondering Brain

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  23. Really beautifully written!

    Found your blog through the lovely weekend blog hop!

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  24. Found you through The Pink Momma Hop Love your blog!

    I would love for you to share and link up at my TGIF Link Party.
    http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/2013/05/tgif-link-party-2.html

    Please, invite your friends to party too! The more the merrier!

    Hugs, Cathy

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  25. Cherish and treasure each day. Such a beautiful and moving post.

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  26. I love how children add a sense of wonder to pretty much anything. For a long time Grace thought the stars were people now deceased looking down on us. Thanks for linking to PoCoLo lovely xx

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  27. I love how wondrous the mundane things in life are to little kids. My daughter's infatuated with lights of all kinds. Her brown eyes light up when she points up at the ceiling showing us lights, or tries to flip a switch. It'll be almost sad when these little things aren't as magical anymore.

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  28. I love your description of Claire's magical world!

    Thanks for joining us for Let's Get Social Sunday!

    Love, Joy @ Yesterfood.blogspot.com

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  29. really great post. Its so true, I was really sad when Goblin started getting nightmares, but its a side effect of developing an imagination.
    Pinning your post to the SPP board

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  30. It is wonderful to watch the awe and excitement, I agree, my sons imagination is just beginning to take off, and we live with a menagerie of imaginary animals at the moment ;)

    Thanks for linking up with the Tuesday Baby Link-Up! :)

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