It’s a Fairy Wedding

Fiachra, I learned today, got married yesterday.  I was not invited.  It’s a fantastic love story:  Fiachra met his new husband, Seamróg, while on holidays in the fairy forest in Slieve Gullion 2 days ago.  (Usually, Fiachra goes up to Loughcrew for his hols,  so it was simply must be fate.)  I was delighted to learn they plan to have 10 children.

Fiachra is the name of the fairy who has lived in our garden since 2018.

While I am quick to promote facts and evidence and science to my (adult) patients, different rules apply to children.  For years, my boys saw trolls under foot bridges when we were out hiking.  They knew very well that I was “too old” to see trolls so they delighted in running ahead, looking under the bridge – invariably spotting a troll – and yelling at me to run quickly over the bridge so that they couldn’t untie my shoes.  That is, after all, what happens to adults:  we can’t see the fairies or the trolls anymore, so they simply untie our shoes. My youngest maintains very seriously that he saw fairies in the Wicklow mountains.

But,  on a very recent walk, my youngest solemnly looked at me and said:  “I can’t see the trolls anymore.”  Sad in a way, understandable in another.  So, I was very surprised, when I came home from work today and this same child told me about Fiachra and this quite interesting – and detailed – new saga.  But should I have been surprised? It is likely no coincidence that Fiachra reappeared in a week where my youngest has been feeling lonely as their older sibling has been spending time with a new friend in the estate.

Did you know?  Fantastical thinking (believing in magic) can persist until the age of 10 in normal development.  This sort of imagination can help children learn to be creative and learn to see things from different perspectives. Certain types of imaginary thinking, like imaginary friends, can also help children deal with stressful events.

So, I did what anyone would do:  I helped to pick tiny wildflowers from our lawn to give them as a wedding present.  Best wishes to Fiachra and Seamróg.