I have a 5 year-old grandaughter who loves, "Invisible Stories," not pretend, not made up, but "invisible stories." Every night when I put her to bed, she has to have an "invisible story." Usually a frog is involved - though I haven't figured out why. The "3 Little Pigs" have become the 3 unicorns with a purple and pink poka-dotted grizzly bear instead of a wolf. And there always has to be a Doctor Emily who fixes the bears burned paw and then gives him 4 purple lollipops to give to the unicorns when he tells them he is sorry. They all become neighbors of course and live happily ever after. "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears" has gone through many transformations, with a frog - and "Little Red Riding Hood" has been nicely rearranged, also.
Part of the time, I will be telling the story and then she stops me and says, "Oh, no grammy, this is what happened."
Not only has this been a great bonding experience for the two of us, but it is devoloping her imagination. When she was younger it was hard for her to imagine things, but since she discovered "invisible stories" - her words, not mine...her imagination has taken off. It was like something suddenly clicked inside her head.
These stories have kept me on my toes, too. No letting my grandmotherly mind go to mush with her around. Especially now that we are starting to branch out into stories that don't have a basis in a book we have read together.
What fun it is to watch her face light up, and hear the giggles that erupt over the tiniest things. How much more relaxed I am with her than I was with my own children. What a joy.
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