Certainly we want to protect our children from new and painful experiences that are beyond their emotional comprehension and that intensify anxiety; and to a point we can prevent premature exposure to such experiences. That is obvious. But what is just as obvious — and what is too often overlooked — is the fact that from their earliest years children live on familiar terms with disrupting emotions, fear and anxiety are an intrinsic part of their everyday lives, they continually cope with frustrations as best they can. And it is through fantasy that children achieve catharsis. It is the best means they have for taming Wild Things.

Thank you for your stories and thoughts, for being one of the first creators-of-things-for-a-child-audience to recognize the inherently human darker emotions that exist for children, and for turning them into something that could be comforting, and sometimes even magical. R.I.P.