Dear Cameron, Monsters Don’t Eat Carrots

Dear Cameron,

Monsters don’t eat carrots. You see, Cam, this fear of the dark that you have, it’s not your fault. I was the same as you as a little girl. I was scared of the dark. And the truth is, I slept with my light on until I was fourteen, and did again between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-three. But that’s because of the catatonic bird incident – a story I will tell you one day, when you’re much older.

Somewhere, someone is laughing at me for that.  I am okay with it.

Cameron, it’s simple. Your amazing imagination runs wild in the dark. Every corner becomes a cave and every shadow a fire-breathing dragon, I know.

But, tonight, as I put you to bed, reading a story of Fairies, and you told me that you too wanted to build a fairy house in the garden, you were still perturbed. Perturbed by ideas within your free-spirited imagination that runs wild and make the curtains into cobwebs.

And, as we do every night, as I put the lamp off and you say..

Mommy, leave the door a little open so that some light comes in

And I say…

Of course, Cam. Did you eat your carrots?

And you said…

Yes! And I can see in the dark!

And I said

I think it’s time for me to tell you a secret about the dark.

You see, Cameron, monsters don’t like carrots. They’re so silly. So full of their own grumpiness and stomping around, and they never eat their vegetables. They think carrots are stupid. But, you and I…You and I know better.

You and I know that carrots are fantastic vegetables. They are your second favourite food, dipped in mayonnaise. They help you grow, they’re orange and match the curtains in our lounge and, most of all, they help your eyesight. So, we know that if we eat them we can see in the dark!

So, you see, Cam, you can see in the dark. You can tell it’s me who comes into the bedroom late and you can see your shiny ballet skirt laid out on your chest of drawers. In the dark, you can see.

But, in the dark, monsters cannot see. And if they cannot see, they won’t go into the dark. And, of course, if they can’t see, it’s because they didn’t eat their carrots!

Stupid monsters. They don’t like carrots.

And, as you drift off to sleep, to dream of fairies that become butterflies, I know, somewhere in your dreams, you’re eating your carrots.