tales for dreamers: well-intentioned advice for parents of children left unattended to

Children unattended to will be given espresso and a free kitten.

As you sip your coffee and help yourself to some cookies, your child can choose from among pixie-bobs, ragamuffins, ragdolls, ocicats, Persian kittens, munchkins, minskins, Australian Mists, and Abyssinian cats.

Whichever your little one chooses, the kitten will wrap itself around your child's legs and cast a benign, binding spell.

The kitten will then lead your little girl or boy to the park across the road.
(Oh, don't bother to look. The garden is not visible to adults. Only little children and kittens can see it.)

The garden has a jungle gym to climb on to, rabbit holes to fall into, stars to count all night, and invisible friends to talk to.

When your child has had his fill of the park, the kitten will lead the little one through the hedgerows to the other side where treasure-hunters are digging a hole through the earth to a hitherto undiscovered land.

We hear the hunters have very nearly completed the hole, so your child could be the lucky first to disappear through it and reappear in this mysterious land, halfway across the world on the other side.

(Oh, don't you worry, dear parents. Your children will be completely safe with the kittens by their side. And if you insist, they can always come back from the mysterious place in a jiffy simply by sailing over the rainbow.)

If the hole has not been completely dug, the kitten will lead your child beyond to meet The Famous Five. The five – (of course, Timothy the dog will be there too!) – are a jolly bunch and they will welcome your child to join them on their summertime camping adventures.

When the summer holidays are over and the Five have to return home, the kitten will lead your child to the wise man's hut, where he has a stash of fairy tales to regale them with. He will read stories to your child until the little one falls asleep, and the kitten will then bring your young one back to you.

You must then take your child home, tuck them in, kiss them goodnight, and leave them to dream of fairylands and magic and adventures.

The only trouble is, when your child wakes up the next morning, they will go looking for the adventures they dreamt about. Nothing you say or do will dissuade them.

So, dear parents, if you don't want your children to go seeking adventures you think don't exist, please do not leave them unattended to.