Finding Neverland in Littleton, CO

This weekend I finally watched this movie that captured the heart of my wife earlier this summer. I have to admit something, I didn't really have a childhood, and I really couldn't give you a lot of details about the story of Peter Pan. Growing up I was more concerned with the Denver Broncos and any other sport I could watch or play!

This was a powerful movie for me personally. Here's the big take home for me.

How can I help my sons use their imagination? Throughout a good portion of the movie Barrie starts interacting with these four boys and there is scene after scene of them playing "make believe" and the boys are loving it! This is done in stark contrast to the boys grandmother who thinks they should be proper and go to bed on time.

When I start thinking about my parenting skills, I have never thought about my skill of creating Neverland in the life of our family. Sure, we will go hit the ball or build a tower in the sand, but we've never gone out into the garage, with our used toliet paper roll weapons looking for the big hairy guy who wants to take our Cheerios from us...or something silly like that.

I think I have fought this because I don't want my boys living in a dream world all the time. For example, Barrie's obsession with the dream world was one of the things that cost him the reality of his marriage. So, I want them to know how to deal with reality, even at a young age. But I don't want to be like the grandmother who was so obsessed with reality that she prohibited her grandson's from any kind of imaginative play!

So there has to be room for both! I am looking forward to "Finding Neverland" in our house as the weather grows colder and our basement becomes a jungle of exploration, or our bedrooms become places where jumping on the bed is allowed because that is simply what boys love to do. Or what about wrestling all over the house and letting the boys jump from the couch on to me as they crush me to the floor? I have a feeling I am going to like what we find in Neverland!