Cottages and icecreams and tigers (Anna)

We've spent the last few days at "our cottage" at Bowen Island. The weather put on a gorgeous show for us, giving us two days of sun and warmth. We had a lovely weekend of throwing rocks into the ocean, hiking, playing, watching the sunset, eating good food (thanks to our resident chef Caroline) and planning our alternative life on the island.

One evening, we were introduced to some of the more difficult aspects of Emma's new (or at least newly expressed) pretend and imaginary life.

We were pottering in the cottage and Emma was playing. She came up to us and casually said, "I have a owie on my body. I have a hurt." So we asked her what the matter was, and she said, "A honey bee came an' bit me in the ear. And it hurts."

So suddenly we're thrown into the age-old dilemma of the parent. We want to believe her, we want her to come to us when she's hurt. We want her to learn that she will be believed, and we don't want to dismiss her injuries. On the other hand, she was playing jut a few metres away from us - surely we would have seen a bee? Surely some evidence of the bee would still be visible? Surely, if nothing else, she would be crying if she had just been stung by a bee? Besides, was this something that just happened, or is she remembering something that happened months ago (although we probably would have known about it then, too)?

Luckily, she solved the dilemma for us by continuing with her story. "And then a tiger run after me and eat me, so I give a icecream cone to the tiger. And I sing a lullaby to tiger."

And since we were even more sure that there was no tiger in the cottage than we were that there was no bee, we were off the hook. This time.

And a note for those postmodernists among you. We get that what she was saying was "true on some level". We realise that truth is not a fixed, definable quality. We couldn't agree more that the world of the imagination is far more real and substantial than most of the made-up stuff that happens in 'reality'. We would be the first to argue that "stories"and fiction are often the most pure form of truth. However, that line of thinking really isn't very reassuring as a parent. I mean, at some point you just need to know if your kid has just been stung by a bee!