5.12: Dream -- Goosebumps

SC was perhaps 2 or 3 when he first heard about the R.L.Stine kids' series, Goosebumps. The older kids at daycare would watch the show, and the little ones weren't allowed to watch it. SC, since then, has associated the show (and books) with true horror like the kind that I get when I think about Saw or The Twilight Zone or that porno/horror movie Hostel. He's been a little terrified of it. So when I'd suggest he watch Goosebumps on Netflix or check out a Goosebumps book at the library, he's resisted.

So, today, we were at the library, and we were browsing chapter books. I showed him Goosebumps books, and he was delighted that there was a mummy book and a monster book. He checked out the monster one, and then asked if I thought he was ready to watch Goosebumps. I said that he was, and we sat down in the living room to watch it.

The show was pretty dumb. After about ten minutes, SC turned to me and was like, "This is so fake. Why do people think it's scary?" I laughed. He was so terrified of the show for years, and then he saw it, and it was nothing. He's still been watching it, on and off, and it's holding his interest. But I think that may be just for the laugh factor and is definitely not for its horror.

How many things in life do we hesitate to do because we're afraid? How many things do we push off for another day because we don't think we're strong enough, or because we've built it up in our minds? My son is only 7, and already he's fallen into that pattern. That makes me sad. But I'm glad that I've realized it, and now, maybe I can change it in him -- and in myself.

"Oh Ms. NGS... bring me a dream..."