Timmy has a huge imagination.
He is constantly talking about space. And aliens. And his nightmares and dreams. His little mind is going all the time.
He's another kid who'd probably thrive outside institutional schooling. He's constantly being squelched. It's not his fault. It's not the fault of his teachers, either, as they have lots of kids to contend with. A gifted child is not necessarily an easy thing to have in one's classroom from what I understand. He's a nice little guy. His parents are friendly and complimentary about my program. They tell me that he loves it there. He's in the 3rd grade this year, so this is the fourth year I've had him in my program.
He has a couple close friends who attend my program at least part of the time. They aren't regular boys (regular ones play with toys they can build and knock over. They bother the girls and try to get them to chase them. When we go outside, they play football or other games involving throwing a spherical object. Sometimes at each other's heads.)
Not Timmy and his friends, though. They... talk. And talk and talk and talk. They're most often found in a little cluster in a (relatively) quiet corner of the room. When they are outside, they talk. They walk and talk.
The conversation is usually about one of five things. Minecraft, space, Star Wars, aliens or things they've seen on YouTube.
Timmy's been obsessed lately with aliens. He has been dreaming about them. I overheard him talking to Wesley* last week. He was saying, "So you think I should tell my parents? I think they're going to think I'm weird or something."
Wesley was telling him, "Dude. They're your parents. They would want to know."
Since I was standing right next to their table and couldn't help overhearing, I said to Timmy, "Is everything okay, Buddy?"
So he told me that he'd been having bad dreams about being in a cave and having lots of eyes looking at him in the dark. "The eyes are glowing," he said. "And I'm scared of them. But they never come and get me. They just... look."
He drew a picture of himself, cowering in the center of darkness with pairs of glowing eyes all around. He asked me for glow in the dark paint, but I didn't have any for him.
He was the last child to be picked up. I talked with him about all the dreams I'd had as a kid. Told him that I finally learned out to wake myself up by telling myself, 'this is a dream, wake up.'
When his dad arrived, he said, "Dad, I have a confession to make."
Dad, raising an eyebrow, asked him what.
"Well, I have been dreaming about aliens all looking at me. I don't know what they're going to do to me. But they just look at me with their glowing eyes and they scare me."
His dad looked at the picture his son held out. The three of us had some conversation about dreams and nightmares, me repeating how I would make myself wake up from bad dreams and reassuring Timmy that a lot of people have vivid dreams, especially really smart people with great imaginations. (there's that positive spin...)
Timmy asked, "Dad, do you think I'm weird now?"
His dad smiled gently. "Buddy, I don't think you're any more weird than usual."
That earned a smile from Timmy.
The conversation wasn't over, of course. He's been talking to me and to his friends about the aliens almost every day. He asked me this afternoon if I believed in aliens and I told him truthfully that I've never seen any, so I really have no idea.
On Monday he drew a picture of several small alien guys with very large eyes, hiding in foliage. He told me that he sees them 'all the time' around his house where the bushes are. That they're gray with big eyes and they look at him.
What do you even say to that? I asked him if anyone else had seen them. He said, "No, they only come out when I'm by myself outside."
On Tuesday, it was just Timmy and Wesley, the other little guy wasn't with us. When we go outside, they walk in circles around the perimeter of the playground, talking. Not unusual to see.
But it was unusual to see their interlocked hands. They walked around for at least fifteen minutes, holding hands.
I didn't comment to them about it, but I was curious.
My assistant was curious enough to ask about it, though.
Timmy's answer was, "Well, they attack couples more than single people, so we were pretending to be a couple to attract the aliens."
I have no idea where his ideas come from. I really hope they don't attract any aliens to my program with their hand-holding.
He is constantly talking about space. And aliens. And his nightmares and dreams. His little mind is going all the time.
He's another kid who'd probably thrive outside institutional schooling. He's constantly being squelched. It's not his fault. It's not the fault of his teachers, either, as they have lots of kids to contend with. A gifted child is not necessarily an easy thing to have in one's classroom from what I understand. He's a nice little guy. His parents are friendly and complimentary about my program. They tell me that he loves it there. He's in the 3rd grade this year, so this is the fourth year I've had him in my program.
He has a couple close friends who attend my program at least part of the time. They aren't regular boys (regular ones play with toys they can build and knock over. They bother the girls and try to get them to chase them. When we go outside, they play football or other games involving throwing a spherical object. Sometimes at each other's heads.)
Not Timmy and his friends, though. They... talk. And talk and talk and talk. They're most often found in a little cluster in a (relatively) quiet corner of the room. When they are outside, they talk. They walk and talk.
The conversation is usually about one of five things. Minecraft, space, Star Wars, aliens or things they've seen on YouTube.
Timmy's been obsessed lately with aliens. He has been dreaming about them. I overheard him talking to Wesley* last week. He was saying, "So you think I should tell my parents? I think they're going to think I'm weird or something."
Wesley was telling him, "Dude. They're your parents. They would want to know."
Since I was standing right next to their table and couldn't help overhearing, I said to Timmy, "Is everything okay, Buddy?"
So he told me that he'd been having bad dreams about being in a cave and having lots of eyes looking at him in the dark. "The eyes are glowing," he said. "And I'm scared of them. But they never come and get me. They just... look."
He drew a picture of himself, cowering in the center of darkness with pairs of glowing eyes all around. He asked me for glow in the dark paint, but I didn't have any for him.
He was the last child to be picked up. I talked with him about all the dreams I'd had as a kid. Told him that I finally learned out to wake myself up by telling myself, 'this is a dream, wake up.'
When his dad arrived, he said, "Dad, I have a confession to make."
Dad, raising an eyebrow, asked him what.
"Well, I have been dreaming about aliens all looking at me. I don't know what they're going to do to me. But they just look at me with their glowing eyes and they scare me."
His dad looked at the picture his son held out. The three of us had some conversation about dreams and nightmares, me repeating how I would make myself wake up from bad dreams and reassuring Timmy that a lot of people have vivid dreams, especially really smart people with great imaginations. (there's that positive spin...)
Timmy asked, "Dad, do you think I'm weird now?"
His dad smiled gently. "Buddy, I don't think you're any more weird than usual."
That earned a smile from Timmy.
The conversation wasn't over, of course. He's been talking to me and to his friends about the aliens almost every day. He asked me this afternoon if I believed in aliens and I told him truthfully that I've never seen any, so I really have no idea.
On Monday he drew a picture of several small alien guys with very large eyes, hiding in foliage. He told me that he sees them 'all the time' around his house where the bushes are. That they're gray with big eyes and they look at him.
What do you even say to that? I asked him if anyone else had seen them. He said, "No, they only come out when I'm by myself outside."
On Tuesday, it was just Timmy and Wesley, the other little guy wasn't with us. When we go outside, they walk in circles around the perimeter of the playground, talking. Not unusual to see.
But it was unusual to see their interlocked hands. They walked around for at least fifteen minutes, holding hands.
I didn't comment to them about it, but I was curious.
My assistant was curious enough to ask about it, though.
Timmy's answer was, "Well, they attack couples more than single people, so we were pretending to be a couple to attract the aliens."
I have no idea where his ideas come from. I really hope they don't attract any aliens to my program with their hand-holding.
Wow what a vivid imagination! Nice that his dad handled it so well too, not to make the kiddo feel badly or odd, just matter of fact. Nice to read about your kiddos again I have missed this
ReplyDeleteI would have suggested to talk to them (the aliens in his dreams): as dreams are "not real", there's no danger of them "doing" anything to him in his dreams, is there? Maybe they have a message for him? Or they need his help?
ReplyDeleteAnd if they're dangerous after all, I also hope that they're not being attracted to your program!
Well, it's no wonder, with all the aliens movies and shows. I'm sure he'll work it out eventually! It is a bit of a concern how much time he spends on worrying about it tho....
ReplyDelete