Have you seen these Lil Fairy Doors? Isn't it sweet? If you haven't heard of them, they're little doors that don't open but are mounted to a wall in a child's room. They come with accessories and even little notes and mailboxes so that a fairy can leave their child mail.
We couldn't resist getting one for Rudy. She's too young to understand it now, but by the time she's old enough to believe in fairies, it will have always been in her room. I imagine her asking about it one day and we can tell her that's where her fairy lives. At that point, the fairy can start occasionally leaving traces that they've been out.
With the popularity of Dino-vember and Elf on the Shelf, it seems that a lot of parents are excited for ways to bring magic to their childrens' lives. Unfortunately for us, November is a busy work month for me and I doubt we could keep up with the work involved in a month long spectacle of creating different poses or scenarios for either dinosaurs. With Rudy's birthday, Chanukah AND Christmas all falling in December, Elf on the Shelf also seems like overkill. What I wanted was something that would allow us to to do something fun and creative for Rudy occasionally and throughout the year.
I think the main objective of the fairy doors is to encourage good behaviour. There's even a little "contract" that the child is supposed to sign, promising to be good so the fairies will visit. I'm not a huge fan of this (Corey laughed at me when I exclaimed "Rudy's not signing that!") because I think that making magic conditional on specific behaviour spoils it. It misses the point that childhood should be magical whether she's naughty or nice. We'll think of another way to encourage good bahaviour when the time comes, but the fairies will visit Rudy either way. ;)
When I was little, I used the top cupboard in the armoire that's now in Rudy's room as a dollhouse. While I was never very keen to play with dolls, my mother collected beautiful miniature versions of furniture and accessories and I loved arranging the rooms! Imagine my mother's excitement when I told her we could collect a few miniatures again that the fairies would leave out by their door from time to time.
What I picture is, if we're learning about the different countries, maybe one day the fairies will leave a tiny globe outside because they're learning the same thing too. Or if Rudy is apprehensive about trying something new, maybe the fairies will leave her a note telling her they'll be cheering her on! Maybe one random rainy day she'll find a tiny umbrella resting against the door.
Of course, with a small door knocker, the door is not safe for Rudy to play with at this point. For this reason, we mounted it inside her closet so she can't access it without our supervision.
She hasn't noticed it yet. Maybe in a year or so...
