Roald Dahl - Someone who truely found Neverland.

As a child i always dreamed of growing up, having a job, doing everything i wanted to do. And as an adult there are times when i wish i could go back to being a child.
I was working with a group the other day when one child began talking about how much was going on at school that she couldn't get her head around all of it. (Shows you how much children pick up phrases off adults) I just smiled at this comment. 
You think that life is so hard as a child, and yet looking back, all i had to do was grow up well. Maybe in years to come i will look back at this period of my life and thing the same. "Things where so much easier when..."
But one thing i try to hold onto, something i think many people loose is their imaginations. A childs imagionation is a tool that we seem to loose as we grow older.

Another story that springs to mind was when a year or so ago, me and a few student friends decided to go to a play barn. You know the ones with huge slides, ballpits and everything else a child could ever want. It just so happens that once a week, in the evenings, they open it up for "adults" (pretty much students and teenagers) In we went cheering and laughing. We neatly placed our shoes in a locker we starred at the mighty barn. And then it hit me. No one knew how to play. How did you start? We had lost that imagination that sparks you on a quest to explore, to create a new advenutre and to have fun.
We tentively stepped forward, haeding for the biggest, scarriest looking slide thinking this would be a great way to break the ice. I remember as a child diving straight down these things without a second thought. The signs that warned of us friction burns not even being read. But this time, perched at the top where at least 6 adults not so sure about doing this. "I better pull my sleeves down," one of the boys muttered. And there we where, terrified of a kids slide.
Fear not my friends for this tale has a happy ending. For one brave adventure (i.e. me) had been on a trip to a simular play barn with a group of children a month or so before. And what they had taught her was to throw yourself at everything and don't ask questions. Watching the children diving off the slide had forced me off too. Not in the "Oh look, it can't be that bad," kind of way. But in a "if i don't do the kids are going to laugh at me," kind of way. So i knew, however scary looking this slide was, they look alot worse then they are. That and i was pretty sure that going first would give me alot of cred among my peers! So off i went, zooming down the slide. Then suddenly a flurry of others followed until we where all at the bottom with great smiles of joy on our face. And then we where chasing up the stairs to have another go. Suddenly, in that single slide we revenrted back to children again. Even an impromtue game of tag began over time.

Now, the reason for this ramble comes from a certain film being shown on the TV. The Witches. As a child this film frightened me to death. I use to have a casette of the book as a child that my parents use to play on long jounreys in the car (along with The Famous Five Go to Smugglers Top) But i have alot to owe the writer of this story. Roald Dahl brought me to love books.
As a young child i hated reading. I dispised it. Countlessly i have told people it is because i hated the boring books for children. My mum tried her best to get me to read. She read amazing stories when i was little, but all of them too advanced for my reading. So for yaers i wouldn't just read for fun. Until i came across Roald Dahl (a little older then it was aimed at) and fell in love. I read every book, sometimes twice. He captivated childhood. His imagination was unbelievable and fun. And thus began my love of books.

As i write, as i work, as i "play" i try to remember that my imagination must never be lost. Sometime i open a new document and allow myself to write the most random things my mind can create. I tell kids tales of giant toad eating crickets just so that i know my imagination is alive. I let it free as often as i can, just because it's the greatest tool for writers.