Childhood is like a dream to me. I had the most wonderful childhood full of love, fun and imagination. I spent much of my time daydreaming and using my imagination to play with my sister. I would pretend I was a Jeannie or a girl with magical gifts like in the movie Witch Mountain. In my imagination, I saved people as Wonder Woman, the Bionic Woman and bat girl. I remember wanting to be strong and powerful. I wanted to be able to defend myself and rescue those in need. I never imagined myself as a princess but my daughter does. Her favorite princess is Ariel. She also loves that Ariel is a mermaid. That’s how her interest in mermaids began. Now she is obsessed with mermaids in general and always wants to know if they are real. She reads books about mermaids, loves mermaid movies and has had a mermaid costume since she was four years old. I don’t want to burst her bubble, so I let her run with her imagination.

Now my beautiful eight year old is able to really dive into her imagination with a very authentic looking mermaid tail. She got the great idea last summer from a little girl we met while visiting with my in laws at their summer place in Avalon New Jersey. The little girl was swimming with a beautiful mermaid tail. I’ll never forget the look on my daughters face when she first laid eyes on the mermaid in the swimming pool. “Mommy, you need to get me that mermaid tail. That’s how I can finally be a mermaid!” she said. Well, it took a while but she got her mermaid tail and she hasn’t turned into a mermaid yet but she can really imagine herself as one.

Of course she shared her new shiny Mermaid tail with her little cousins, she has always loved the pool but now she really loves being in the pool and imagining herself as a real mermaid.

She swims like a little fish and bobs in and out of the water. She truly looks magical wearing that tail. Makes me wish I was a little girl!

How do your kids use their imagination? What do you do to inspire them?