Imaginative Play

Hunter doesn't watch movies much but, when he does, he remembers everything. For days and sometimes weeks after he's viewed a particular film he will randomly narrate certain parts of it, giggling about something humorous or questioning something serious.

He always amazes me with the detail with which he remembers something that he has only seen once and also with how much he analyzes the things in his life, pondering issues while I thought he was just staring out into space.

On one hand, that's a good thing but on the other hand, not so much. With such a memory, there is no hit-or-miss exposure to movies, games, or books. There is a huge responsibility that comes along with it - a responsibility to carefully guide what goes into his brain.

But lately he has not only been narrating with perfect detail every movie he has viewed in the past six months, but incorporating it into his dramatic play, too. Yes, recently he has been quite the actor and likes to take Anthony, Mommy, and all his toys on exciting adventures in an imaginary world where you can be anything that you want to be. This has been great, but it has got me thinking, What kind of things do I desire for him to be pretending? After all, the power of a child's play is great, and as saith the scriptures, "As [a child] thinketh in his heart, so is he".

So I have been encouraging and participating in all sorts of historic dramas as told in the Bible. The picture above depicts the boys playing Jonah and the great fish with a tumbling mat at the gym, and the picture to the left shows the boys playing David and Goliath as they throw bottle caps at the giant painting on the wall.

To say the least, they have loved it.

Hunter has, for some reason, always had a huge fascination with story-telling. No pictures, no flashing screens, just "tell me a story!" And now, instead of reenacting the scenes of Madagascar or The Lion King he is happily building a firm foundation in Biblical and historical literacy as well as, most importantly, developing a fear of the Lord.

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..."

Proverbs 23:7

Hunter is 3 years, 10 months old