Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-02-04
Young Child's
Imagination
An Asset
Help Him Separate
Fact and Fiction
In Daily Life
Bv Lettuce Lee Street,

Somebody very small, in brief
pink-checked shorts, a matching
bow perched atop her head, bent
seriously over q strange object in
her arms. As she rocked 1t she
crooned, using her own private Ian
guage, her tone warm with SYM
pathy and concern.
Just then q grownup 'butted In"
asking with ill-concealed condescen-
sion, "Why on earth are you rock
ing that awful looking towel?"
The little girls eyes widened with
incredulous surprise that q big per-
son could be So unobserving. This"
she announced positively. lis my
poor, sick baby" And 50 1t was,
q towel wrapped around the whisk
broom that lived in the hall.
When q baby emerges from the
almost complete blankness Of early
infancy the first thing he notices
Is himself, such as his own fas-
cinating toes and fingers. Later
he becomes conscious and curious
about many objects around him.
Before he Is able to creep, or to
walk, the world must seem like a
fiat, colored post card. So imagine
his amazement and Joy when. after
he is able to reach these strange
objects under his own power, he
discovers what Is soft and hard,
rough and smooth, round and sharp,
and Just exactly what chair, table,
rug and so on, are all about. The
world becomes very exciting!
At about years old he Is such
q man about the house that he Is
quite accustomed to its furnishings
and then he begins to enter still
another world, the realm Of make
believe.
At this age his imagination be-
gins to develop, instead of being
busily engaged only in finding out
what a towel, q chair, a sofa pillow,
q mop and so on really are, he fur
ther enhances their usefulness by
Transforming them respectively into
q doll baby, garage, a big fat
pig and a snorting horse.
At this period 1t is well for his
mother to remind herself that while
she wants to encourage his imagi-
nation she should try to guide 1t
along helpful paths so that it will
become an asset and will not get
out of hand.
The results Of undirected and I'M
controlled imagination are numer-
GUS, but among the two most haz-
ardous effects are the habits of
untruthfulness and unreasoning
fear.
When a small child relates fam
taStic tale that was almost, If not
entirely, woven from his lively
imagination. 1t is wise to listen with
interest, and at the end Of the reci-
tation to casually say, That is a
fine story: it Is Just make-believe,
isn't it?"
Thus the little child will have his
first lessons in the difference be-
tween fact and fiction. and most
important, he will discover that
there is no fooling mummie!
The imaginative child can become
afraid Of many things If objects and
occurrences that alarm him are not
reasonably explained so that he
understands. For example, the
clothes hanging on the open closet
door may appear like terrifying
shapes in the semidark unless the
light is put on and he can see for
himself that they are only his own
little garments. Or the first time
a toddler sees a locomotive it may
frighten him out of his wits when
he hears its whistle, or when it re-
leases a sudden jet of heavy steam,
until he is told that being so big
it has to have a loud whistle just
like an automobile has horn and
that the steam Is needed to make
it go and will not reach him.
Sparkling, interesting personalities
are alive with imagination properly
used, but If allowed to run riot in
any one, big or little, imagination
may result in deceit and needless
fears.