I remember my Professor of education saying to me during my degree, when I had realised I had a passion for psychology and child development that when we are born, 80% of our brain is creative, by the time we finish our education journey it has reduced to something like 20%. This is proven to be due to the conformity and expectation that society has on us and the regimented nature of our education system. Just meandering our way through life can beat the creativity out of us. This has always fascinated me and when I held my little babies in my arms I promised them I would nurture their little creative brains and try as hard as I could to hold on to every little percentage of creativity I could for them. I appreciate that creativity can take many forms but to me and my approach to parenting, especially with the girls being so young my vision of creativity for them is all focused around their imagination, their freedom of expression and believing in the wonderful. Who wouldn’t love a day out at Willywonkas Chocolate Factory (hence the blog to title)- I know I would, I definitely resonate with Violet Beauregarde- but that’s a whole other story.
Even as adults we love an opportunity to be taken away from lifes pressures and go on a journey of adventure or wonderment. When we took my niece to afternoon tea with the characters at Euro Disney, I, a fully grown adult, believed in the magic. When Minnie Mouse took me by my hand and hugged me, I believed it really was Minnie Mouse. I will treasure that moment forever. I was taken to the most amazing place, where anything is possible and all the sensible and rational thoughts that dilute my creative mind disappeared. It was magical.
So when my 4 year old, Rosie, tells me she wants to be a princess, I tell her that she absolutely can be anything she wants to be. Ever since they were babies, whenever they hurt themselves I hold onto the part that hurts and sing
‘flowers, gleam and glow, watch them as they shine, reverse back the clock to what once was mine’. (How many of you are actually singing this now?). This is a take on the song in the film Tangled, where Rapunzel sings and heals things, or brings things to life. It works, every time, without fail they stop crying and believe I have made them better. Rosie even calls it the ‘make things better’ song. It’s amazing how imagination can take pain and upset away, distract them from what is making them sad and bring them comfort in their times of need.
When we were invited to attend a Royal Valentines ball hosted by Everlasting Entertainment, I didn’t have to think too hard about whether we should go. I relish opportunities to get the girls involved in things like this. Coincidently, the girls are also midway through a ‘traditional tales’ theme at school which has captured their imagination unbelievably, Rosie has learned so much. She is currently obsessed with finding the biggest box or biggest piece of paper, or any other service which she deems suitable (even if it’s the brand spanking new white bed frame she has!) to draw Rapunzels ‘massive’ tower and retells the stories with such expression and articulation, you can tell she is actually feeling the words she is saying. This is also true when we do our Disney singing in the car, which is a school run favourite. Everyday we put the Disney playlist on and sing our hearts out on the way to school. This often makes my day, especially when we’ve had a tough morning. It wipes the slate clean, leaving any negative emotion and mood behind them and it builds them up to a positive day.
Going to the Royal valentines ball has been a source of excitement all week, the girls got their princess dresses ready and when I told them they were going to meet a real Prince and Princess their faces were a picture. (In the interests of being upfront and honest though, I do have to tell you Lydia found the idea of a princess dress not to her liking, she wanted to be a ‘brave knight’ and had I not spent a small fortune on her dress- that she picked, before she decided she wanted to be a knight- I would have gone with it. She also wanted to know if there were going to be any boys at the ball, so thank goodness, when she saw ’the Ice Harvester’ her face lit up and he was her firm favourite).
Any event that can recreate the magical and encourage the girls to delve into the depths of their imagination is a winner to me. When The Snow Princess greeted the girls at the door Rosie was star struck. She almost couldn’t speak and Lydia, who isn’t usually one to be good around strangers was more than happy to hold the princesses hand, although, she wasn’t allowed to cuddle (or even touch) teddy.
It’s clear that the characters- The Snow Princess, The Ice Harvester, Cinderella and Prince Charming are very talented. For the girls to see real life Princes and Princesses singing and dancing to some of their favourite songs within arms reach made them happy. Lydia at 2 years old sat beautifully all the way through which I’ve never seen, she is a little fidget and never sits still for long. In fact Lydia seemed more in awe than Rosie did which was a massive surprise to me. It’s not a side I’ve ever seen of Lydia.
There was dancing and crafts and sweets and biscuit making all whilst the Princes and Princesses helped the girls, talking to them, asking them questions and staying perfectly in character- I’m still not sure whether The Snow Princess is actually American or if she just did a really good job of maintaining her accent all the way through. Either way she did a great job and the girls believe they have actually met a real princess.
Cinderella wore a real Cinderella dress which swayed and bounced and Rosie was constantly trying to copy Cinderellas moves to make her own dress do the same thing. To see your 4 year old, so focused, so motivated and so determined to dance and move and copy what someone else is doing is endearing to say the least. She looked at ‘the real’ Cinderella and wanted to be like her. A dream really is a wish that the heart makes. For a couple of hours my girls were transported to a world of pure imagination, totally engaged with their version of creative and allowed to express themselves, dance and sing however they wanted to. Everlasting entertainment are providing a very good service, one where our children are taken to a magical and wonderful place and I think that is priceless. Thanks for the invite Everlasting Entertainment. We can’t wait for the next event.
Disclaimer: Everlasting Entertainment invited us to the ball, but have not asked me to write this.
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