Heffalumps Begone!

We've had to retire the Winney-the-Pooh book. Quinn was quite disturbed by the Heffalumps. They're sort of like elephants but mean. In one particular story, it blows its trunk at all the characters, blowing them out of the garden, and then stomps on the carrots, all for no apparent reason. In analyzing Quinn's reaction, I suppose he has never had to deal with meanness in real life. I don't know what the right stage to begin to deal with meanness in the world is, but I'm pretty sure one-and-a-half should not require it. So out with the Heffalumps it is.

He generally seems to have entered a phase where a lot of things frighten him. I guess he's become much more cognizant of the world around him, and the possible threats they pose to him. Perhaps he's inherited his father's fear of everything. He also appears to have inherited the drama-sensitivity gene, that I and several of my family have. It's a bit of a double-edged sword, never having desensitized to violence, conflict and tension. I suppose in the longer term it might be prudent to preach coping rather than avoidance, but I like to think that above-average sensitivity and empathy is a good thing. The balance will likely be hard to strike in Quinn, as it always has been in myself.

For now, avoidance. Out with the heffalumps.