Keep the innocence alive

When I was a kid I had so many ideas about how my life would turn out. There are so many choices out there of what to do and who to be, you can dream big! Then I got a job, moved out, moved a few times, had a few different jobs, tried out different things, grew up. As I did I realized that some dreams just aren't going to happen, especially if you haven't got someone shouting encouragement at you from the side lines. You need that little bit of pushing while you are growing up. I'm older now but still young enough to dream, the dreams have just become a little more practical.

I now have a daughter of my own who is still in that dream huge stage. Like any other mother I tell her the little fibs of childhood, you know the ones I mean, Santa, the Easter bunny, The tooth fairy, the kinds of things that keep children innocent. I also try and encourage her to keep dreaming, I want her to believe in herself, that she can do anything and be anyone and that I will always be right there by her side shouting encouragement. I want her to believe in magic for as long as possible, and hope that at five years old she still has many years of believing left.

At five she still loves Princesses and Treehouse, she doesn't quite realize that not everything you see on television is real. She is asking those cute questions that only little ones think of, 'Can I play on a rainbow like the Mole Sisters? How can a big brother be smaller than a little brother (George Shrinks)?' I try and teach her that sometimes things on tv are just pretend. Like most young children she takes it a little further, while watching The Wiggles one day she looked at mea and said ' They're not real, they're just pretend'. I suppose in a way she is kind of right, but I had to explain that they are real people....and we start all over again the next day.

Right now if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up without any hesitation at all she will answer 'A princess ballerina.' I just can't bring myself to tell her that you can't really become a princess when you grow up, after all she has met Cinderella twice and The Little Mermaid once at a few birthday parties. Who knows maybe she will actually meet a real honest to goodness prince someday and marry him, there are still afew around some places, it could happen. Or maybe like the rest of us she will grow up and lose that innocence. All I know is that I intend to keep it alive for as long as it's possible to. And hey, if becoming a princess doesn't happen she can always fall back on becoming a ballerina.