WHAT IF WE DIDN'T POISON CHILDREN'S MINDS WITH FANTASY?

by Terry 213 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Terry

  Every baby born seems to have a giant helping of fairy stories, talking animals, outrageous exaggerations parading as "fact" and an endless stream of cartoons, science fiction and make-believe. The laws of nature and physics are violated every few seconds in film and tv! Is it surprising that children are not only ignorant of HOW THINGS REALLY WORK-but, they don't have patience and an appetite for fact when they get to the schoolroom. This certainly affects how they will react when they meet a religious salesman out to land a convert!

  People don't seem to mind starting out with the premise that has already smuggled God into the picture! After all, how many children get to begin life without being exposed to every kind of fantastic story? We pour fiction into a child's mind and they develop the sweet taste of it. Is it any wonder the concept of God is so readily grasped and held deep inside?

  When a Jehovah's Witness comes peddling a "better" fantasy that avoids Hell and provides a Paradise Solution to all life's problems---well, who wouldn't buy such a tale?

  I assert that by filling little children full of fantasy and fiction from their very start we are poisoning their capacity to tolerate REALITY. Fantasy tastes better. It is a sugar-coated world.

  Make your best arguments pro and con.

  What do YOU think?
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  Big Tex

  If we limit fantasy, there would be no fictional literature. Art would be limited and stale. It is the ability to fantasize, to daydream and to basically just play that adds color to an otherwise drab life. As for children, fantasy allows them to express themselves and it can help them find their place in the world. I remember reading that one of the early astronauts (Glenn?) was inspired by the fantasy writings of Jules Verne. Surely in the 30s and 40s when he was growing up, space travel was considered nothing more than fantasy.

  Play is also helpful for children of abuse to express themselves, and through that play, tell others what is happening. Play therapy is very helpful to smaller children.

  "The more complex the mind, the more the need for the simplicity of play." -- Capt. Kirk
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  Black Sheep

  They need that fantasy stuff early in life so that they can learn to distinguish it from reality.

  It's only when the parents themselves don't understand the difference between fantasy and reality that it becomes a problem.
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  jgnat

  I raised my children on the rational end of the scale, "There is no Santa Claus". I consider this to be one of my most grievous errors as a parent. My adult children are so serious, it is hard work getting them to loosen up. I, on the other hand, read all of Grimm's Fairy Tales and more, growing up. I have concluded that I am better off viewing the world with a sense of mystery and awe, that there is more in this world than can be perceived by my five senses.

  I live with a magic elf who tidies up the bathroom behind me. When the computer hiccups at work, I tell my co-workers it is infested with gremlins. Listen to children play when they are all alone with no adult supervision. They are making up Heroes and Monsters never before seen by man. Magic is all around us! Fantasy is the realm of the young! Oh, that we had more of it.
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  Nancy Drake

  I think the child is more perceptive than to be unable to discern fantasy from reality.

  Until you think it's fine to quit your job because it's more important to get dressed up and play D&D in your best friend's basement, I don't think there's anything to worry about.

  Imagination is the most powerful thing in the world. Without it we wouldn't have art, we wouldn't have gone to space, we wouldn't have invented the clapper!
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  gumby

  Poison = fantasy??????

  Now there's a new one!

  Gumby
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  outnfree

  I always looked at fiction and fantasy and myth as ways to EXPAND, not poison, my children's minds. Fairy stories and fables and myths all share wisdom on the human personality, with its foibles and egotism as well as its strengths, heroism and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good (in exaggerated form, of course). Most children are very able to understand the difference between "make believe" and "reality" and are well aware when a story is a matter of "Let's pretend...".

  And just what IS reality, anyway? Is YOUR reality the same as MY reality? Not likely.

  "Let's pretend" can evolve into "Imagine if..." and then invention is born, and progress (hopefully) is made. Icarus' wax wings didn't work, but a flying machine is a reality today, n'est-ce pas?

  outnfree ... to dream, imagine, fantasize , and not have that sourpuss JW attitude that everything whimsical is bad
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  outnfree

  P.S. -- Let kids be kids and have the confused ones take an "Intro to Logic" course when they get older.
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  Terry

  I reared my children with the fun of Christmas but, not with the "lie" of personhood for the character of Santa. They have the same happy Christmas time as other kids, however, they feel they are special because they see other children "fooled" while they are "in the know". It helps them observe the role of belief in fooling people without taking away the fun of a celebration.
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  Terry

  For Gumby:

  Poison: A substance, which upon contact or being introduced into an organism, impairs or prevents normal metabolic processes from taking place, thus altering the normal functioning of organs or tissues.

  Metaphorically (as I used it) Fantasy is introduced into the child's mind and it impairs the normal functioning of rational thought WHEN AND IF the child prefers the fantasy to the reality.