PARENTS : Everyday Life at Brilliant Star : Cartoons, Superheroes, and Fantasy Characters

Children at a young age are naturally inclined towards discovering reality. In fact, all things are reality for the young child, and they have difficulty distinguishing between what we adults would call "reality" versus "fantasy". Many educators are now beginning to question whether the "fantasy" that we provide to children through cartoons, superheroes and other fantasy characters, are an adult imposition on the child's mind. That is, would the child create such things on their own? If you watch your child, when they participate in "pretend" play, you will find that they spontaneously recreate reality. The subject of their play is the events in their day, their parents' day, and subjects from the world around them. Rarely will they spontaneously create fantasy characters.

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Imagination – the ability to create mental images – is an important quality of the mind to nurture. Truth and reality are the basis from which clear images can be made. Imagination is the power of the mind to venture beyond what is clear and concrete. Fantasy and imagination are two separate things. Imagination is when the mind is used to create from the basis of reality.

Scientific progress is possible because our imagination has conceived something based in reality but not yet in the intellect. The teacher makes every effort for the children to have an attachment to reality so that imagination can take flight. We often see the use of imagination in children under the age of six, yet their natural work and their primary task at this age is discovering reality.

Reality is full of wonder -- it's the first time the child is seeing it. And, he tends to want more and more. The child does not need untruth and fantasy. We help the child by not hindering his perception of reality.

The most prevalent forms of fantasy that our children are exposed to are cartoons and superheroes. You may have noticed that many of these characters rely heavily on aggression and violence to solve problems. If your child is watching cartoons, you may wish to watch one with her, just to get an idea of how many acts of violence she is seeing in these cartoons.

Education, especially at the age of birth to six years of age, emphasizes gaining an understanding of reality. Furthermore, the underpinnings of all of Montessori's work was to use education as a tool for establishing peace. Montessori education discourages introducing adult created fantasy themes into the child's world.

These are some of the reasons that Montessori schools, including Brilliant Star, ask that children not be sent to school with any items, such as clothing, shoes, backpacks, or lunchboxes with cartoons, superheroes, fantasy characters or violent themes on them.

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