Unseen Worlds: Looking Through the Lens of Childhood

177 Pages·2010·0.62 MB·English

by  Kate Adams

Unseen
Worlds
by the same author
The Spiritual Dimension of Childhood
Kate Adams, Brendan Hyde and Richard Woolley
ISBN 978 1 84310 602 9
of related interest
The Spirit of the Child
Revised Edition
David Hay
With Rebecca Nye
ISBN 978 1 84310 371 4
Dream Time with Children
Learning to Dream, Dreaming to Learn
Brenda Mallon
ISBN 978 1 84310 014 0
Unseen
Worlds
Looking Through the Lens of Childhood
Kate Adams
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2010
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
116 Pentonville Road
London N1 9JB, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Kate Adams 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
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other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright
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and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N
8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce
any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84905 051 7
ISBN pdf eBook 978 0 85700 243 3
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
MGP Books Group, Cornwall
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7
Preface 9
Chapter 1 Living in multiple worlds 11
Chapter 2 Worlds of play 27
Chapter 3 Seeing the unseen 39
Chapter 4 The worlds at night 59
Chapter 5 The darker worlds 75
Chapter 6 It’s just your imagination 85
Chapter 7 Accepting children’s worlds 101
Chapter 8 Affirming children’s worlds 123
Chapter 9 Returning to childhood 145
REFERENCES 167
INDEX 173

Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the help of children
who chose to share their experiences and ideas with me, as well as the
children I have never met myself, but who shared theirs with other
researchers cited in this book. One of the most gratifying aspects
of undertaking research with children with whom I have no prior
acquaintance has been their openness and willingness to talk and
share with me – a stranger. Children have consistently reported that
they have not previously told anyone about their experiences. Sadly,
this theme is echoed in other research of a similar nature yet all these
children need is an adult who has a genuine desire to know about
these aspects of their inner lives, who will respond with respect and
without judgement. I have been privileged to have been one of those
adults. My sincere thanks also go to their head teachers, class teachers
and parents/carers who granted me permission to invite children to
talk to me, for without their informed consent, as well as that of the
children themselves, then the child’s voice simply cannot be heard
within a research context.
Similarly, I am indebted to the adults who graciously shared their
childhood recollections of their unseen worlds. Their willingness to
talk openly about issues which they would not normally discuss, and
how their experiences impacted upon their lives, has been very much
appreciated as it teaches us pertinent lessons about how we should
respond to children. Ultimately it is only through the willingness of
these adults and children to disclose their experiences that others may
be able to understand children better when they talk of worlds which
can remain unseen to many others. For ethical reasons, all of their
names and other identifying features have been changed.
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8 UNSEEN WORLDS
I am also grateful to those friends and colleagues with whom I
have had many inspiring and challenging conversations about various
aspects of my work, and different people have played a variety of
important roles in the creation of this book. I thank Brendan Hyde
who was present when I first started to make notes on the structure
of the book during a sabbatical in Australia, and whose friendship
has remained throughout the writing of it. Thanks also go to Howard
Worsley for the very challenging and thought provoking conversations
about my work which he initiates. From the earliest days in my role
as a researcher of children’s significant dreams, I have been inspired
by the work and encouragement of Kelly Bulkeley, and I also thank
Roger Knudson for demonstrating the immense value of qualitative
research methods which illustrate the impact of significant dreams
upon an individual. My gratitude also goes to Jennifer Parker for
her passionate commitment to children, their imagination, creativity
and insights and for her support for this book. Time is so valuable,
and writing a book requires so much thinking and writing time,
that it inevitably impinges on relationships and to that end I have to
thank various people for their responsiveness to that situation. Janet
and John Dennett continued to show wonderful friendship and a
sensitive approach to the pressures on my time whilst I was writing
it. Similarly, thanks go to Becky Bull for her recognition of my time
commitment to the book and also for her delightful ability to see the
world through the lens of childhood, which echoes a key theme of
this book that encourages us to temporarily suspend the adult filters
through which we see the world. My parents have also continued
to be sympathetic and supportive of my commitment to this book,
as indeed, throughout my life, they have been supportive of the
professional paths I have chosen to take. This book could not have
been written so quickly had it not been for my employers at Bishop
Grosseteste University College Lincoln who granted me a sabbatical
in order to write it. I am highly indebted to all the staff who were
involved in that decision, and particularly to Graham Meeson who
has shown constant support and appreciation for my research and for
whom it is an absolute pleasure to work. Finally, I thank the staff at
Jessica Kingsley Publishers for their commitment to publishing this
book and their unfailing support and attention to detail throughout.
They are a delight to work with.
Preface
Unseen Worlds is a journey into the realms of childhood which many
of us once made ourselves but have long forgotten, or at least only
have hazy memories of. It is a voyage into the calm and enchanting
worlds which children inhabit alongside, and intertwined with their
daily lives of school, work, family and social life: worlds of fantasy
play, imaginary companions, seeing deceased loved ones, of travelling
into strange worlds in dreams, to name but a few. But it is also a
journey into the somewhat turbulent worlds which children move in
and out of: fearful worlds of monsters hiding in their cupboard and
the creatures chasing them in their nightmares.
The book came into being after many years working as a primary
school teacher and then as an academic in the education sector where
I have supported students in their quests to become educational
practitioners in a variety of settings, working closely with children.
Over the decades researchers have provided invaluable insights into
the minds of children and there has been a growing appreciation and
understanding of the wider elements of children’s lives, such as their
emotional, social, cultural, personal, physical and spiritual development
and a current and increasing emphasis on their health and well-being.
Practitioners in all environments working with children are rightly
concerned with these personal areas of children’s lives and are aware
of the importance of building strong relationships with the children
with whom they work in order to facilitate and nurture these many
aspects of children’s growth.
It might, therefore, be safe to say that professionals who work with
children understand children, not simply based on strong theoretical
foundations, but also through their regular interactions and developing
relationships with them. Yes, we have gained much knowledge from
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