Re: the children's imagination


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Posted by Eric Abraham on February 13, 2003 at 14:27:20 from 199.240.139.105 user EricAbraham.

In Reply to: the children's imagination posted by Jonathan Labaree on February 12, 2003 at 19:08:58:

When I was the age (mid to late 1940's) of the Swallows, Amazons and the D's, I, too, was reading many books of adventure and exploration. I played at being explorers, the King of Siam, Mississippi rafters and many other stories were acted out on our small farm in Southern Missouri, but I had no one who really shared these flights of imagination. That is one reason I really took to the Swallows and Amazons - here was someone, even fictionally, that I could relate to.

I didn't rename the local places, but in my mind the immediate surroundings became the places in the books - whether it was Tom Sawyer or Robert Peary or the Swallows and Amazons (the old gent who rented boats in the city park in Enid, Oklahoma became Peter Duck in my mind and the little lake became the lake in Swallows and Amazons).

Most of the other children of that era were pretty much into the popular culture of the times, as they seem to be now, and didn't understand what I was about. During that period, I absorbed books like a sponge and in between would play at what ever story I was into at the time. I think that there have always been and always will be some children who will explore the literature and allow it to spark the imagination and unfortunately, for some (the majority? it sometimes seems), nothing will jump start the search for mental stimulation.

This sort of relates to my question some time ago about the statement in Peter Duck about the illustrations - could the children in the book have actually made those drawings - did they have stimulating art education in the thirties? I don't think English children are much different than American or any other group of kids in this way. If given the opportunity and encouragement, most kids will respond in totally unexpected and exciting creative ways. The key, I believe, is supportive and creative parents and adult educators as well as compatable peers, in that order, to unlock the potential in young folks.

Eric Abraham


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