Monday, June 20, 2011

The Adventures of John Payton..

Last night during bath time, Will informs me that John Payton has been shot and needs me to bandage him up. I wondered aloud, "How on Earth did John Payton get shot?" Will tells me that Poppa shot him. Again I query, "Why would Poppa shoot John Payton?" Will responds like I should know the answer, "Mom, John Payton tried to steal a watermelon." (There is a real life story about a watermelon robbery at Poppa's farm but it does not include a weapon any more dangerous than a fist!) I bandaged up John Payton, put him in the extra bed and wished him a dreamy night's rest. This morning at breakfast, he was fully recovered, eating Cinnamon Toast Crunch and watching Mickey Mouse. Thank goodness!

John Payton, if you haven't guessed, is the imaginary invention of my sweet, little Will. He has been hanging around the house for about a month now but it wasn't until recently that I determined that John Payton was a fictitious creation instead of a real boy. My introduction to him began shortly before summer vacation while Will was still in school. He would tell me fantastic stories about how John Payton bit him, pinched him, pushed him down, etc. When I questioned further about John Payton's identity, Will would tell me he was in his class. I knew this was not the case but assumed that it was a child in another class. However, more recently, the stories about John Payton started to come more often. The story about school was dropped and suddenly, John Payton was responsible for all sorts of misdeeds from leaving the toilet seat up to pushing Maggie down. John Payton is in fact more naughty than Will.

The fact that Will has created this little person named John Payton is so exciting to me, and I do every thing I can to play right into the story. This is not my first adventure with fictitious beings. Ian had two imaginary friends (which were more like finger puppets) named Tombo and Frankie and they went everywhere with us for about a year. I, too, had three imaginary friends as a child: QT, Mouse and Rabbit. I had a great deal of fun reading to them late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping.

Perhaps some of you may wonder if my zeal to embrace these little friends is such a good idea. There was once a time when doing so was frowned upon. Well-knowns like Dr. Piaget and Dr. Spock suggested that imaginary friends didn't allow children to think seriously or even worse, could be sign of a mental debilitation. But these days, study after study shows that pretend friends like John Payton, Tombo and Frankie illustrate a child's ability to be creative, think critically (after all, it takes a lot of thinking to come up with an entire identity!), and develop necessary social skills. Playing with their imagined friends helps kids to feel comfortable with themselves and assert themselves with their playmates. Plus, having imagined friends is just fun!

I can tell that Will is still in the early stages of developing John Payton's identity. He is feeling me out to see what's OK and what is not. But now that I have figured out exactly who John Payton is and have invited him to join the family, he is emerging more and more every day. The fact that he is even more mischievous than Dennis the Menace does make me a little nervous. What if they team up? What if he created John Payton to be even more devious and then hide behind his identity? If so, I am really in for it! But in the mean time, I am enjoying getting to know John Payton and look forward to the many adventures I am sure he will lead us on this summer. I will embrace him for as a long as I can, or at least until I have to take him to get X-rays!

Welcome to the family John Payton!

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