You probably know this already, but if anyone starts a conversation by saying, “I have to tell you about the crazy dream I had last night!” just go ahead and walk away.
Because no matter how exciting/sad/happy/weird their dream is, it will not be a riveting conversation. It will be right up there with, “Have you seen my pictures of the Grand Canyon? Here. I took 436 of them.” and “Did you know doctors can remove ingrown toenails surgically? Let me tell you about mine.”
As adults we all sort-of get this. We’ve learned some things are just too personal to share and, really, no one else is interested.
Let me tell you….five-year-olds don’t know that.
Almost every morning, Sam comes downstairs with a full report of his dreams. While I DO want to listen to his long stories about monkeys chasing him or the ladybugs that talk, our breakfast table is not a great place for any meaningful conversation. Mostly because no one can get a word in without mom or dad saying, “Okay, talk and eat. We have to leave in twenty minutes.” Not to mention all the morning drama of not liking gluten-free pancakes or remembering you were supposed to bring treats for your class or crying about the poop in your diaper but also insisting you don’t want it changed.
It’s a tough scene, man. There’s no time for talking.
I feel bad for Sam because I really think he has some far-out dreams. I feel doubly bad for him because Elisabeth WANTS to have far-out dreams, so I suspect she’s making them up. While Sam is telling us about the elephant he rode through his school, Elisabeth is interrupting him and saying, “I had a dream about that too!” Then she glances around and says something like, “And it was eating gluten-free pancakes. And had a poopy diaper that needed to be changed. And the elephant had to bring treats for his class.”
That’s another thing about dreams. You can’t really say, “Are you sure you had that dream, Elisabeth?” Because by the time she’s said all that, she believes she dreamt those things. And who has time to argue about that?
So, Sam and I came up with a solution to share his dreams. He made this book so he can draw pictures of them to show me at another time. Never mind that, by the time he has time to draw them, he will have forgotten them. It gives him hope that he can share his dreams with someone.
As long as he doesn’t start the conversation, “Hey! I have to tell you about the crazy dream I had last night!”
