The three of us sat in the living room, trying to figure out how to unscare Jane. Brad taught her the words to "There's no Such Thing as a Witch." It helped a little. We kept talking about how goblins aren't real, and how we could make up all kinds of stories about them, and she could make them anything she wants them to be. It was hard to undo her image of creepy, green-skinned, long-nosed goblins who are mean and follow you at night and try to scare you.
Jane giggled as we told stories about how goblins love to give each other kisses, but they always end up poking each other's eyes with their long noses. She also loved picturing them eat spaghetti (it winds around their noses when they slurp it up, then they slurp it off their noses). Jane was still a little scared, but finally went into bed.
Today I heard Jane talking to someone while she washed her hands in the bathroom. She opened the door, surprised to see me standing there, and said, "Oh, hi. I was just talking to my friends the Goblins. They're really nice now. I'm their leader." As the day has progressed I've heard more details about her friends the Goblins.
"They had to say goodbye to their moms and dads because they're going to live with us now. They don't go to school with me--they just stay in the van when I'm gone. I'm in charge of taking care of them, keeping an eye on them, and helping them be good." Apparently the goblins had a less noble leader before--he was bad, and he taught them to do bad stuff, like sneak around and scare a little girl named Jane. "That's me," Jane clarifies, pointing at herself.
But Jane has a lot of confidence that the goblins can be good. "No sneaking around to scare me, okay goblins?" Silence.
"They said 'okay,'" Jane assures me.
a picture of Jane because we love her.
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8 comments:
Okay, Jane is awesome. I wish I had just an ounce of her creativity and imagination. I can't think of a better person to set those goblins off on the right foot!
I love Jane's imagination! If I could just have a teeny bit of it, life would be so much more entertaining.
PS - Do you ever think about the goblins in the car with you after you drop off Jane?
Jane is indeed awesome. I'm just waiting for the day you guys realize that Brad should be animating a children's book called "Jane, Bad Guy, and the Leader of the Goblins" and then I will buy that book and you guys will be happy millionaires.
I love this. We learned with Alex that you have to acknowledge the fear, and redirect it like you did. We have tickle monsters at our house for the same reason. We've got a lot of ideas at sleepfairy.com. Basically it explains that children (especially the creative ones) need to be taught to give their imagination a positive direction.
That is so sweet. Thanks for the good tips as well. :)
That is so sweet. Thanks for the good tips as well. :)
The stories she comes up with are amazing! What a smart, talented little girl. That's great that she learned how to un-scare herself.
I love the idea of letting her tell a different story to herself about her fears. I think we all need to do a bit of that sometimes.
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