Elaborate Stories

[BarryBobPosthole]

Just got back from taking my four year old grandson to get donuts, which is one of our traditions every time he comes to spend the day with us. He turns five in a couple weeks so lately we've been hearing his endless list of toys he wants for his birthday.
Today though, he told another very elaborate story about how his 'first parents' taught him to use his brain to think about stuff. This isn't the first 'first parents' story but one of many. They apparently taught him many things, physically abused him, and at some point died and are now up with God.
I don't think I've ever ran into this before. I'm not worried about it, mainly because I know his very active imagination. I also know his parents have never lifted a finger to him so it leaves me wondering where all of this comes from. As papa, of course my number one job is protecting him. So while I'm not too concerned, I guess I am curious. I don't remember any of my kids telling such realistic but made up stories with such conviction.

You guys ever see this?

BKB

[Captain]

More times than I can tell you. I was assigned as Juvenile investigator for a period of 3 years in the lat LE 80's.
I've seen Children make up stories and turn a family upside down. Even after proving the abuse never happen the accused never actually loose the suspension from friends and family. And SO many times Social Services open a case on the story and a families life is never the same after that.
Be glad to talk to you by phone...

[Thumper]

Wow! That kinda gave me goosebumps actually. When I was living in Thailand in the very early 70's, there was little girl in the village (I think she was 5-6 years old) who always spoke about how she and her friends died in a fire at her school. When questioned about it, she went into great detail but everyone wrote it off to her imagination. To be honest, I'd totally forgotten about it until I read your post. I don't remember all the details, but somewhere along the line, it was narrowed down to a school in N.W. Thailand (Chiang Mai area), but she had lived her whole life in N.E. Thailand (Isaan) and her parents had never even been to N.W. Thailand (they were poor rice farmers). I don't remember if she mentioned the name of the school or what, but someone finally looked into the details and found that the school she mentioned had burned to the ground something like 50 years earlier and dozens of kids were killed. It still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I'm writing this.

I'm NOT insinuating anything here, it's just weird in a way. Of course, what made it even weirder was that they were Buddhists and believed in reincarnation.

[Thumper]

I see Cappy posted while I was writing. FWIW, I'd lean more toward his experience rather than my "Thump story". It's just that some things happen in life that are hard to explain.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I may have led y'all to believe there's somethng to these stories other than a four year old imagination. I have first hand experience with child abuse myself and I'm quite aware of the most prominent symptoms. that is if you're lucky enough to have a kid that exhibits any.

No, I've been around this kid three or four days a week since he was born. Hell I've practically raised him. So if something was going on with him, I'd know it, I'm that much of a worrisome papa. Its part of the job description.

The stories are pretty elaborate though and he says things you wouldn't expect from a four year old mind. His first parents took him to Disneyland. Specifically Disneyland, not Disneyworld. It has a Cars place you see. But it wasn't there when hos first parents took him. There's some levels in that story.
And why 'first parents'?

Its spooky enough to wonder if we don't lead lives many times.

BKB

[HideHunter]

That's interesting stuff. There's a lot of things we don't understand...

I'm just now finding out I was abused as a kid.. My folks were firmly convinced - "you don't work - you don't eat". Can't do that now. I was born in the wrong generation.. ;)

[LJ3]

Is he an "old soul" sort of kid? Jus curious.

[Thumper]

I may have led y'all to believe there's something to these stories other than a four year old imagination. BKB

I think we all hear you loud and clear P-hole ... and I'd have to think we're all in agreement with you (including me) ... BUT, who knows for sure? That's always been my argument with religion, no matter who you are or where you live, YOUR religious beliefs are always the "right" beliefs. I've always thought it odd that "we" (for the most part) are considered Christians because we happened to be born into a predominantly Christian society. That's always been one of the big questionable areas in my own life, especially after traveling the world and living among other cultures with different religious beliefs. Take Bucky for example, I'd consider him a died-in-the-wool Christian. What if he'd been born in the Middle East to Muslim parents and raised as a Muslim? Would he be a died-in-the-wool Muslim? Or would he hide in a closet reading the Bible at night? Would he believe and defend the word of Mohammed? Or Jesus Christ?

I honestly think people, in general, "NEED" to believe in something and are "taught" by the society around them what they "should" believe. It's like that movie that came out a few years ago, "Heaven is for Real". (?) "Believers" had no problem grasping on to that movie as a confirmation of their faith. The skeptics noted the little boy was raised in a VERY Christian family ... in fact his dad was a Christian minister. The way I looked at it was this kid had been immersed in a Biblical upbringing his entire life ... not unlike brainwashing if you really want to dissect it that way. It was no surprise he had the "dreams" he had (IMHO).

I didn't mean to turn your grandson's thread into a religious discussion, but it's so easy for us (again, including myself) to write things like this off to a "vivid imagination" without even considering an alternative. If he lived in a Buddhist society, would his story be more believable instead of immediately written off as a child's imagination? When it comes to religion, we are taught what to believe and anything that falls outside of those parameters is immediately discounted as foolishness, while "WE" may be the REAL fools. Like the story of the little girl above. If I remember correctly, part of her story was naming the little friends she played with at school who died in the fire. Once it was discovered the school she mentioned actually had existed at one time (LONG before she was born), the names of her "friends", who died in the fire, were verified. I was only 19-20 years old at the time, but for the life of me, I couldn't (and still can't) come up with an explanation for what I witnessed. I'm sure there are many similar stories around the world.

Again, I'm with you as far as your grandson is concerned. It sounds like you can trip him up on the details. Heck, I had an "imaginary friend" when I was your grandson's age. Granted, he wasn't real, I know that for a fact, but he was pretty real to me at the time. It's just that your story pulled something from my old memory banks that I witnessed personally and have never been able to explain ... and probably never will. But then, there's also a lot I personally witnessed and couldn't explain after seeing a David Copperfield show in Vegas.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Yep agreed.

I guess one of the things that intrigues me about hos stories is there doesn't seem to be sny motive behind the story. In other words he's not explaining something to us when he tells them, he's not gaining anything from them or covering anything up. He just comes out with it in normal conversation. Like yesterday when he was riding in the back seat of my truck coming home from hos favorite place, the donut place. He starts pecking on his head with his finger and I asked him what he was doing and he said he was making his brain think about stuff. I asked him who taught him that and he said his first parents. And so on.

BKB