FACING ANIMATED FEARS
“We watched Scooby-Doo.”
Age 5
That’s you and me, on the sofa, with the mat thing and the cushions [right] and that’s the telly with Scooby Doo and his friend in it [left].
Son: I’m ready!
Mum: Good. Put your shoes on then – they’re just at the bottom of the stairs.
Son: I can’t go down there it’s dangerous! I’ll wait for you.
Mum: You’re not a baby any more – you can go down the stairs without me.
Son: But what if I slip? Do you remember that time – when I slipped?
Mum: But you’re growing up. You can’t be like this when you’re twenty – saying that you won’t go downstairs without your mummy!
Son: I won’t be like it when I’m twenty. -Four. I promise.
D: I don’t want to die.
Me: I don’t want you to die either. You’re not planning on dying any time soon are you?
D: No, but we all have to die!
Me: True. And then it’s a bit ‘nothingy’ when you’ve turned to dust. You might turn into a lovely butterfly after you die, though!
D: What?
Me: Some people believe that after you die you come back as something else – it’s called reincarnation. What would you want to come back as?
D: Me.
Me: Not somebody else?
D: No – I want to come back and be a five years old me again.
Me: That’s nice to hear. You couldn’t just pop back into the world as five years old though – you’d have to be born again and start as a baby.
D: But I don’t want to start all over again – it’s not fair! I want to pop back into this world as five years old!
Me: And what about if you don’t die until you’re really, really old – would you still want to come back as a ‘five-year-old you’ then?
D: Yes.
Me: Well you’re not going to die for a very, very, very, very, very, very long time anyway…
D: Yes – a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time!
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