Playing Pretend

What do you do when your children play pretend? Do you sit back in amazement as you see their little inventive minds at work? Do you reminisce to when you were a child? Are you excited when you realize they have reached a developmental milestone? (Yes, playing pretend is a milestone). Does it bring you joy? Or, do you take it for granted? Do you neglect to notice? Do you pay attention to the inquisitiveness of their thought process and actions?

If you ponder on these questions for a moment, the answers may surprise you. I have been guilty of both, seeing joy and being inattentive as I watch my children pretend. What has stirred all of this up, you may ask? Yesterday, the girls and I met Ross for lunch at the Promenade Mall in Rogers. While we were eating we noticed that Abigail acted like she had gotten a bite of something. Half in panic, we inspected her and much to our liking there was not a trace of food. As I watched her out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that she was pretending to grab a piece of food off of her daddy's tray, brought the "food" to her mouth, and proceeded to smack and chew. She did this several times throughout our meal.

My immediate reaction was excitement and "awe how cute" because she was playing pretend. Then the reality set in. This may be her life. Forever. She may always sample food this way. By pretend. My answer to this reality in a pretend world was to join in. I ate her pretend food, and liked every "bite" of it. Several bites later, she was done and so was I. And so we made it through another meal without pointing, crying, and the longing look of "why can I not eat"? I will gladly join in a game of pretend to make the dinner table a more comfortable place for my daughter who cannot eat.