Fi Phillips

In today's I newspaper, I found an article listing the results of a poll of British children aged between 3 and 8 years old, that asked them what their ideal holiday location was. Here's what they said: The Moon Disney World Narnia Hogsmeade Lapland Hundred Acre Wood Hogwarts Pride Rock Australia Bikini Bottom The results made me smile. An adult mind would have picked completely real-life destinations (mine would have included San Francisco, Venice and Hong Kong). Our children are more comfortable with crossing the divide between reality and fantasy. Maybe there's a lesson for us grown-up's here. Fi's Ideal Holiday Locations Atlantis Ankh Morpork Camelot The Weasley's house The Magic Cottage in James Herbert's novel of the same name A flying holiday with Richard Bach Avalon The forest in Midsummer Night's Dream Centre Earth Diagon Alley Tell me about yours.

My seven year old daughter's homework this week was to write down and draw the changes she could see in the garden now that autumn was here. She started off by looking at the obvious one - autumn leaves, turning a fetching shade of gold. Then she got a bit stumped but after a moment, she decided that the sky was different in autumn too. So that was added. What else? There was the weather. A sketch of rain, clouds and wind ensued. This process went on, adding more changes that the season brought - bugs dying, flowers disappearing, children wearing warm clothes - filling the homework sheet from edge to edge with not only what she could see, but using all her senses. I think my daughter has something of the writer's spirit in her. It never ceases to astound me how immense a child's imagination and reasoning 'outside the box' is. As adults we can so easily lose that, concentrating instead on the necessary and the mundane. We forget to wonder 'what if' or notice ...