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THE CHILD WITHIN

The first thing I ask students at children's fiction workshops and seminars is to cite the one word they most associate with childhood. Inevitably, words such as "carefree," "fun," and "light-hearted" are tossed back at me. Only a few people remember childhood as "terrible" or "unhappy."

The larger group of students, I then find, have brought in what I call "Grandma" stories (regardless of the writer's age). In these stories, Timmy and Tami either have completely happy times at the zoo or-worse!-meekly agree Mother's decisions are best after throwing one brief tantrum.

The second set of students write stories like one I wrote after actually becoming a Grandma. Entitled "I'll Get It," the story concerns Jamie, who tries to get the newspaper for Daddy, but Daddy's long legs take him there first. He tries to bring kitchenware to Mother, but Mother's long arms reach things first. He tries to help his sister, but she can run faster and does everything herself. Through sheer effort, Jamie finally finds something he can do best-retrieve a ball from under a very low cabinet where large, hairy Daddy arms don't fit, nor even more slender Mother and big sister arms.

"I'll Get It!" was purchased by Highlights for Children. And the first student sales I hear about also come from those few who remember the down-side of being small-who, in fact, remember what childhood really is like.

Certainly, childhood is an exciting adventure - and a child seems free of care to anyone coping with adult responsibilities. Yet, consider. The entire world is new to a child; each day, wondrous discoveries are made. But children are people and they share the very human trait of being frightened of what they don't understand. They, too, arrive at personal decisions by basing them on past experiences - of which they have almost none. Just as we did, our children usually learn everything the hard way, through trial, error and countless set-backs. All the advice we give (based on our own experiences) may be absorbed, but has only limited value since it hasn't yet proved true for them.

Fiction is a great way to reach children, to help them grow by showing how other children face similar problems. Reading how Ronald finally overcame his fear of the neighborhood bully and in fact outsmarted him - all through his own effort - gives small readers more courage in facing the bullies and other fearful aspects of their own lives.

As with all fiction, children's fiction is a mental probing of

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