o yes, it’s so tricky.

The “dinosaurs are dead” line and especially the simple and factual explanation of what “dead” means, seemed to work… at that stage for, possibly, that particular dinosaur (the one visiting her in her nightmares).

Amie has a very organized mind, and I hope she really got the “ALL” in “all dinosaurs are dead”. Still, at her age, kids’ imagination and their “magical thinking” are more dominant than their rational beliefs and could annul the latter at any given moment.

Your story is such a good example: you’d think your son would have “seen through” the images of dinosaurs as something artificial, but his magical thinking was stronger. Those techs were like magicians! Not something an adult would have anticipated.

The question then is to work through the scary belief all over again, with reasoning as well as emotional support. Something like: no matter how full of scary dinosaurs the world is, we’re here and will keep you safe from them. That, at least, is something we can promise them in all honesty.

Just like you did: I love your “some dinosaurs are vegetarians” approach! I think, in the face of the unstoppable onslaught of the imagination of certain very imaginary children, such “tricks” are all a parent has.

Then, how much to expose them to? For Amie, we try not to obsess. She’s seen Bambi for instance (though I wouldn’t have shown it to her had I watched it in advance). She was very impressed with the dreariness of it, but in the longer run I think it was good for her. She learned from it and now loves Bambi, having worked through her sadness.

What a roller-coaster parenting is!