zen_tom

The world is complicated as it is - adding a little magic and fantasy teaches children about this complexity in an enjoyable way - as does Bugs Bunny, Bilbo Baggins, SpongeBob Squarepants, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson and all those other fictional characters you read about in books and see on TV.

Much of our world is based on fantasy and variations of the truth, I honestly don't see any problem at all and intend to make up all manner of fictions for my children (if I ever get round to having any) so as to enrich their lives and provide myself with some worthwhile entertainment.

My family were huge at fictions - at a tender age I believed that fish grew in the ground, that my Grandad had a magic Jelly-Baby Tree, and that he discussed our (My brothers and I) behaviour with Father Christmas directly on the phone on a nightly basis. Later, I would join in on these games with my younger brother who, on refusing to eat anything except chicken, would be told (perfectly reasonably) that whatever was on his plate at dinner time was chicken. One time on holiday, eating calamari, he asks 'What's this we're eating?' without a moment's hesitation, Dad says 'Sea Chicken'

To live in a complicated world, you need to have the tools to deal with such a world. These kinds of fictions provide children with those tools.