For this one, you must redirect your child's terror of a signal coming from the cockpit's transmitter.
LOADING DOCK (any gender mid twenties through late forties)
People can go bonkers in space. But sweetie, not this family. We're smart and we're creative. We know it's time for a change. Last night was a spooky little night, wasn't it? You heard me and mommy talking loudly. You had nightmares about the transmitter. But guess what?
Mommy and I love each other very much.
You had nightmares and that's normal.
Wetting the bed is normal for a six year old... every now and then... still normal.
And the sound coming through the transmitter-- it's just some strange combo of... it's not a person or a creature, it's just magnetic interference or electrical-- Look:
Here's what we're gonna do. We're a CREATIVE family, right? We've got two more months before we land on our new home. So we're going to change things up. Each week, we're going to spend as much time in a DIFFERENT part of the ship as possible.
This week, isssssss...LOADING DOCK WEEK!
We are going to redecorate,
we are going to have picnics there,
we are going to camp out there,
we're going to make drawings,
we're going to play counting games,
we'll memorize the names of all the equipment,
I'll even teach you to co-pilot the forklift.
We're gonna have fun, we're gonna refresh our minds and we'll be away from the cockpit which is on autopilot anyway. I mean mommy and I will need to check in there every day but YOU, you are going to be the official researcher of planet LOADING DOCK!
How excited are you for our adventure? Huh? HUH?!
Copyright 2016 by Matt Haynes. If you would like to use this piece, please credit: "Courtesy of Matt Haynes and The Pulp Stage"