Milky Moo

Fact or Fiction. Wearing my book-author hat I enjoy spending time visiting kids in schools, and one discussion I’ve always enjoyed is the fact verses fiction debate. 5 to 6 year olds have a fluid notion of this concept that gets a little more solid as they hit 7 and 8. When asked if dinosaurs are real most kids answer yes immediately. It gets a little more fuzzy when I hold up a book of fiction where a child has a pet dinosaur as an imaginary friend. Yes the book is real, after all, there it is in my hand in front of the class – I have just read it aloud. And is the story real? Yes, I just read it aloud so it is real – as a story. And dinosaurs are real; and children definitely can have imaginary friends. But are the events as depicted real? One way teachers used to help children make such discernments was the illustrations. If these were photographs then is was most likely to be fact, not fiction. Now digital effects allow any feat of the imagination to be rendered as realistic as reality itself. For everyone reading this, we grew up at a time where that discernment was a lot simpler, we all developed a radar for fact and fiction and the ability to challenge things we were shown and told. But every parent of young children know that process has got a whole lot tougher. Its why shared reading and co-viewing is so important, as parents we can be there watching the same programs and can use moments of confusion as opportunities for discussion and learning.