A kid colors a cow purple. In that moment, there are two kinds of adults in the world:

1. The one who says, “Cows aren’t purple, honey.”
2. The one who says, “Ooooh, tell me everything about her.”

Please, please be the second one.

Reality Doesn’t Get a Vote on Paper

Here’s a secret about a sheet of paper: it’s the one place where the real world doesn’t get a say. Outside, gravity exists and cows are (mostly) brown. On paper? The cow is purple, she has wings, and she gives strawberry milk on Tuesdays.

That’s not a mistake. That’s imagination doing push-ups. Every time a kid draws something that “could never happen,” they’re stretching a muscle most of us let go rusty years ago.

The Sentence That Kills the Magic

Somewhere along the way, a well-meaning adult says, “That’s not what a cat looks like.” Gently. Kindly. And it still works like a spell in reverse. First the cat gets exactly four legs. Then the sky goes back to plain blue. Then one day that same kid is telling you, “I can’t draw.”

Plot twist: no toddler on Earth has ever said that sentence. It’s learned. And we can quietly refuse to teach it.

Try the “What If” Game

Tonight, grab some markers and throw out one of these:

• What if our dog walked himself to school?
• What if it rained lemonade every Friday?
• What if Grandma could teleport, but only to the kitchen?

Then watch a kid’s eyes do that thing — the light-up thing — and try to keep up with the marker.

The world already has plenty of brown cows. What it’s running low on is purple ones. Hand over the crayon box and stand back.