It is not only sheer fun to enter the pretend world of a child, but sometimes it gives us a glimpse of a better world.

“These are our bear cages,” Hanah announces. (Hanah and her brother Elijah are visiting us, and playing inside on a rainy day.)  “We are safe from bears and monsters when we are inside them.”  Hanah is four, and she is a little frightened of but also fascinated by bears, beasts, fire monsters, and other big and dangerous creatures.

The bear cages adventure started, like the best of games, with something simple: two mesh stand-up baskets that had previously been used for boring stuff like laundry and miscellaneous stuffed animals.

Playing with the stuffed animals lasted about two minutes before the basket got emptied and Hanah discovered it was just the right size to crawl into. Then, she discovered, it was even more fun to stand up with the basket over one’s head and body. 

Elijah has to follow suit, of course.

After a few uncertain steps, they master walking around inside their bear cages.

Now that they have bear cages and are safely protected from all danger, Hanah and Elijah embark upon risky adventures that would have been too perilous to attempt before.

Safely ensconced in their bear cages, they run the long path through the kitchen to the closed gate into Grandpa’s office, which represents a Place of Many Perils or at the very least The Dangerous Forest.  At the moment, there is a bear den there. Hanah picks up a lost bear cub.

  “He’s very sad,” Hanah announces, bringing the invisible bear to me in a plastic measuring cup.

“Very sad,” says Elijah delightedly.  Elijah is two and it is pure joy for him to be admitted into his big sister’s games.

 “He’s lost,” says Hanah. “We’re bringing him back to his Momma.”

“Oh,” I say, from my perch by the fireplace.  “So you are taking him back to his Mommy?”

“No, no, no his momma and his pappa are right here,” Hanah tells me, in a visionary way that sees the worried parents appearing before her eyes, and that also makes it clear that while grownups don’t have the clear-sighted vision of a 4-year-old, if I look again, I will see the bear’s parents right there beside me. 

Carefully Hanah takes off her bear cage and lays the invisible bear down beside his invisible parents.

Then she jumps up with excitement.  “Now we have to go rescue a baby fire monster.” Putting the bear cage back on, she darts away.

Elijah, whose vocabulary is growing by the hour, with far more interesting words than Dick, Jane, and Spot, says “monster!” in a very excited voice and races off after Hanah, joy in every line of his body. 

What a better world it would be if we were all like Hanah, and Elijah. If we threw ourselves passionately into our games and were open to where they took us. If we focused on delighting in the company of those we love. If we used our imaginations to deal creatively with the bears and fire monsters in our lives. If we used our personal power to help those in need. If we showed compassion for others, even those we are a little frightened of.

What a better world it would be.