S, my 4 1/2 year old son, pretends to be a 16 year old girl. And I’m often cast as her brother, Franck.
“Is Franck still at work?” he’ll ask my wife.
“Yes,” she says.
This girl is tough, good at counting, and is fearless, willing to leap through windy tunnels to solve problems, do the right thing, and risk her health for a good cause.
I ask S, “Would you like to go to Mars some day?”
“Kya would,” my son responds.
“She would like to live on Mars?”
“It’s just pretend, Franck,” my son tells me.
That’s absolutely adorable. I think one of the neatest things about kids is that they clearly know where the wall is between real and make-believe, and they have this wonderful tolerance for grownups who don’t seem to be so sure.