The imaginative Child, 1932 - Ursula Wise clarifies the difference between a free and mobile imagination and one that is concerning.

November 16, 1932 in The Nursery World

The Imaginative Child 

A little girl whose imaginative stories often deceive her mother is discussed this week.

"B.S." writes: - “Your letters are always the first thing I turn to when I get The Nursery World, so I am writing to you about two problems concerning my daughter who will be four next month. I know that you tell people to encourage imagination. But is it possible, in your opinion, to have too much of it? V. is an only child. She goes to dancing class, which she adores, once a week. A nursery school is out of the question, as we live in the depths of the country and the nearest is thirteen miles away. The nearest children live three miles away, and she sees them about twice a week. V. has various constructional toys, mosaics, jig-saw puzzles, etc. She is quick at them all, and plays with them fairly often, but she would just as soon have no toys, at all. She loves books and knows “Alice in Wonderland”, “Stories of King Arthur’s Knights,” and several other books almost by heart, but immediately we have read a story we have to act it. She gives me a part and has a part herself, the dolls are pressed into service, and if there are not enough of them anything from a chair to a bit of paper may become a living character – really living to her.

            “The whole day, even eating, bathing, etc, she is pretending to be someone else and I am told who I am to be. When I am busy she runs about in the garden for hours talking to herself the whole time. She has no idea of the truth, but can this be expected at three years old? She tells me thrilling stories of what she has just been doing, and we both enjoy a ‘good story,’ but it is difficult to show how that is different to giving me a circumstantial account of some incident which sounds so true in every detail that I am quite deceived, only to find, often days later, that it was an entire fabrication. She sleeps badly at night, and seems to dream a lot, but when she wakes with a dream she drops off to sleep again at once. 

“She is very fond of other children, and always thrusts her toys upon them, but she never talks to them much, though afterwards it is clear that she has listened to them and observed them, as she pretends to be one of them and imitates their words and gestures. I have tried to explain that her fanciful world is almost more real than her own home to her, and would like to know if you think this can matter and whether it may be responsible for her disturbed sleep at night. She never sleeps in the day, but rests for an hour and a half with books. 

"The next problem is that at her request I have started an hour’s lesson a day. In the absence of other children it gives her occupation and she loves it. She just does exercises or dancing to the gramophone, writes the alphabet on her blackboard, or tries to fit number cards together, etc. She is not a child who tires herself trying to do something difficult. she would sooner abandon the attempt! Do you think these ‘lessons’ can overstrain her brain? I know she is young but I stop at once if she seems tired, and now that it is winter it is something regular for her to look forward to each day.”

I don’t see any reason to think that your little girl is too imaginative. She obviously has a great gift for observing people and situations and recreating them in a dramatic way. As her phantasies change from time to time and re so closely related to real experiences and real people, as well as to what she reads, one need not feel anything but delight in her imaginative power and dramatic interests. It is quite different when a single overpowering phantasy takes hold of the child’s mind. I have had one or two cases reported in these columns in which I did feel there was probably some serious difficulty in the child’s mind, which she was dealing with by acting out one particular phantasy – for example, being a cat, the whole time continuously, without ever changing the phantasy, or being herself. But where the imagination is free and mobile, and ready to seize upon new people and events in the way your little girl’s does, the picture is a very satisfactory one.

It may be that when she is older her gifts of imagination will lead to literature or dramatic art, and will certainly give her the power of appreciating other people. As she is only three I should not worry in the least about the question of her mixing up phantasy and reality and having no idea of the truth. That is perfectly normal at three years of age, and should not be commented on in any way. The distinction between fact and phantasy will come within the next year or two, especially as you show yourself able to enter into her imaginative play as well as to represent the world of stable truth honesty to her in your behaviour. I don’t think it is likely that the imaginative play is responsible for her sleeping restlessly. It is more likely to be true that if she was prevented from playing out her inner world of phantasy in the way she does, she would be far more subject to nightmares and disturbed sleep. As she had asked you for lessons, I certainly do not think they will do her any harm. She evidently wants to have the feeling that she is learning something definitely, and that is probably the best corrective to the free imaginative play, especially as it is a spontaneous wish. If you follow her and don’t exert any pressure yourself or let her imagine that you think the lessons more virtuous than the dramatic play they can be nothing but a help to her. I should try to include various forms of handwork and use the best possible material for number work. I don’t know whether you have any of Dr. Jessie White’s number material. You would find that very helpful (Dr. Jessie White, The Auto-Education Institute, 46 Great Russell Street, W.C.1.).