Today is the birthday of essayist and children's author Kenneth Grahame, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (1859), known today for his book The Wind in the Willows (1908).

He began writing essays and stories on the side, but when he wrote The Wind in the Willows, many publishers turned it down because the idea of talking animals was too fantastic. At the time, Victorian educators and child welfare experts believed that children should be discouraged as soon as possible from pretending and daydreaming, that letting children believe in fairy tales and myths was detrimental to their development. Grahame believed the opposite; that because of their imaginations, children were the only really living people.

The Mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in his throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms. Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing. It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said "Bother!" and "O blow!" and also "Hang spring cleaning!" and bolted out of the house without even waiting to put on his coat. Something up above was calling him imperiously, and he made for the steep little tunnel which answered in his case to the graveled carriage-drive owned by animals whose residences are nearer to the sun and air.

Can you even wrap your head around the idea that less than 100 years ago it was a commonly held belief that letting children imagine was detrimental to their development? I believe its absolutely crucial that children have a sense of imagination! Childhood is really the only time in our lives when wonder abounds without restraint. We will never again be so thrilled by the magic that is everywhere.

Anthropomorphizing a group of animals to have a society, talk and keep house is fantastical, as is believing a family of little people may live in your house and "borrow" your things. Surely we all read Mary Norton's "The Borrower's" series. When I was young, these stories filled my thoughts. I didn’t have Nintendo, Xbox or the Internet. I went outside, played with my friends and built makebelieve worlds that I couldn’t wait to revisit as soon as school was out and before dinner was ready.

There is a dangerous probability that the current generation will lose that creative spark. Toy and game manufacturers leave nothing to the imagination and cherished playthings are replaced with marketing ploys to gain money and market share.

If human beings cease to inspire and reward wonder and awe, or cannot see the value in fanciful pretense, I think I'd rather take up with Mole and his friends any ole' day.