One way I focus on keeping life imbued with magic and imagination is taking time out to renew my sense of connection with the rest of the universe. I do that by turning off my intellect and becoming aware of beauty and intelligence in all things, eg staring up at the stars, playing with a puppy, or meditating.
Kim --
I don't have kids, so I can't speak from experience but from what I've seen, parents who keep magic and imagination alive in their own day to day lives pass that on to their children without trying too hard. This requires:
1) taking the time to know what your dreams are
2) using your imagination towards creating them
3) taking active steps towards fulfilling them, including creating a careerand relationships that help us towards our dreams (translated: no boringdead end jobs or loves).
Joan
One of the incidents that put this topic on my mind was a conversation with my friend Karen's eight-year old daughter. She was relating to me that she had seen the tooth fairy while spending the night at a friend's house. The tooth fairy is gold, you know, and very tiny, and she likes to perch on the ceiling fan and watch to make certain you are sleeping. Well, this very special little girl had the rare and wondrous experience of actually seeing the tooth fairy. Can't you remember wishing that you could see her when you were a child?
One of our traditions was the tooth fairy bit - the kids would hide their tooth - and leave a clue under their pillow. Used to take thetooth fairy quite a while to find the darn tooth. Then my sneaky husband would put the money and a note written as teeny tiny as we could back in the original "clue" envelope under the kid's pillow. They wondered for years and years how the tooth fairy managed to do it all without opening the envelope! The prize hiding place though was the year Judy hid it in an ice cube! Thank God I found it before some unsuspecting soul put the cube in their drink!
Sandra
Still don't believe in fairies?
The fairies come to Grandma's house. They seem to know when Brian will be visiting there.
(I don't believe they are fairies. Honest. I think they are darn little snitty elves. Why else would they scatter pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters all over the patio out back. Fairies would be nice enough to stack them in neat little piles, so we wouldn't have to work so hard to pick them up! Grandma tells Brian this, but he still believes that they are fairies -- not elves.)
But, whatever they are, they scatter money on the back patio. Brian insists that it is for him..and not for grandma. Sometimes they leave toys in a truck sitting on the back patio.
Brian doesn't remember when the fairies starting leaving him money andgifts. (Grandma remembers, but doesn't say. It was after he had been missing for 48 days when he was 4 and a half years old.)
Some people have told Brian that fairies do not exist. Now, at age six, Brian doesn't know if fairies are real or not -- sometimes. He looks out the back window carefully...just to see if there is anything out on the patio. There is something there! Shining in the sun! Money. Then grandma must find a jar, or a bowl and come outside to help gather up the treasure, and carefully open the truck to see if the fairies had time to leave a toythere.
(Grandma still says they are little snitty elves. She says it all the time she has to bend over on hands and knees to pick up all the pennies.)
Grandma
Share your comments on ways to keep magic in your child's life.
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