Somewhere along the way of growing up, I must have lost my imagination. To me, rolls of paper towels are for picking up spills; stacks of napkins are for wiping milk mustaches off mouths; and little orange cones are for doing exercise drills or fencing off a wet spot on the floor.

I’ve become practical, usually using common sense for common objects. After all, I’m a parent. Someone has to use things the way they’re supposed to.

That’s why sometimes, I envy my child. He’s allowed to use his imagination on anything. In fact, I encourage and guide it because I know it’s helping his brain learn to think critically and outside the box. Using his imagination is good practice for developing real world skills.

For example, today, my son took the rolls of paper towels, stacks of napkins, a couple of orange cones, and his favorite dinosaur blanket in order to make himself a castle.

For a five year old, I’d say that’s quite a feat! He had to have good self-control in order to balance things that high. And of course, his imagination had to kick in to visualize his castle as he was “making” it. When it would fall down, he had to persevere and try again. He also had to accept the fact that tumbles and crashes happen and there was no point in getting mad about it. Stay happy and try again.

I was happy to see him so happy – especially over non-electronic “toys.” Sometimes I wonder if I’ve ruined his imagination because I’ve allowed him to watch too much TV. So, to see him play like this was a blessing to me. It was also a small message to myself that, “Hey, you’re not doing too bad with this motherhood thing. Look how happy he can be with all those “ordinary” things!”

JUST LOOK HOW HAPPY IS!

HAPPY!