SO WHY DON'T YOU PRETEND?

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted October 8, 2004)

Here's a quick and inexpensive way to relax..... try pretending.
My 5-year old McKensie does it all the time.

Now, don't get me wrong...... I still do some "grownup pretending".
For example, I'll pretend to actually understand something being explained to me.... like how to download software onto my computer.... or why the differential on my car is slipping (if differentials can even slip).....

Or, in a restaurant, I'll pretend to really be interested in the "specials" the server is enthusiastically telling me about, even when I know exactly what I'm gonna order.

As for McKensie, most days, after spending hours in the 'real world' of pre-school, she comes home eager to spend time "pretending".

Before she started pre-school, she had the whole day to conjure up imaginary scenarios for herself, her dolls, and others. Now she has to take advantage of limited pretend time.

I notice that McKensie will often assign her mother a specific role in her pretending.
But she's not always so eager for me to play along..... primarily because I tend to "break character" too often.

I watch and listen to the earnest conversations taking place between dolls and toys and hermit crabs..... and I know I can never again really go inside that world.
That world belongs exclusively to a child's imagination. It is far beyond the comprehension of a mere grownup.

I recall a radio show, half a century ago, called "Let's Pretend". It was broadcast on Saturday mornings on CBS radio. The cast of 'pretenders" would re-enact classic fairy tales and original stories. It was a wonderful show.
Too bad young kids today don't often listen to such things, where the mind's eye is used to add pictures to the stories they hear.

Oh, I just thought of something I pretended as a child, and still do today.
Sometimes I'll pretend to be asleep when I'm awake..... but that's the extent of my pretending.

OK, every now and then I'm Gene Autry, and my little motor scooter is Champion..... but that's about it.

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