Conversations with Children

One adorable little girl asked me one day, "Have you ever met a water dragon before?"
"Um.....no, I don't think I have met one before." I replied.
"Really? Because they love mermaids."
"But I'm just a regular mermaid, I'm not royalty or anything. I bet that water dragons only hang out with royal mermaids."
"No, water dragons are very nice, they like all kinds of mermaids." By this point, the little girl was starting to get suspicious of me "not being real". So I had to find a better reason for why I hadn't met a water dragon before.
"The must like warm waters, and I grew up where it's cold, just off the coast of Seattle by Puget Sound. I bet the waters where I'm from are too cold for the dragons to live comfortably." I said.
"No, they like all kinds of water, and have thick skin so the cold wouldn't bother them."
"Well I'm going to have to search one out when I get home! I'd love to meet a water dragon."
"With as old as you are, I'm surprised you haven't run into one. They are all over the oceans." She said bluntly. I should preface this by the conversation I had with her and other children on my age. I'm 126 in case anyone is curious, and I will be 127 next month.
"I'm surprised too! Maybe I've never been in the right place at the right time!"
"Maybe. I guess that water dragons don't like being up too far north though. That's getting too close to ice dragon territory. Ice dragons can swim too, and they like the water.......ooohhh! I bet you've seen an ice dragon!" At this point, my only option was so smile and say that I had seen one, but didn't know what it was at the time. She proceeded to tell me what an ice dragon looks like and I proceeded to tell her that must have been what I saw that very strange day.

I talk with kids and work with them at ever single event that I do. Even on practice swims at the local rec center I always have a few kids that want to interact with me briefly. I'm pretty prepared for most of the questions that I get. But that little girl (excuse the pun) blew me out of the water. The water dragon question was the pinnacle of that conversation. She also asked me about which king ruled the waters where I was from (Triton? Poseidon? Sobek? Delphin? Nehalennia?). Which surprised me that a 10-year-old knew so much about mythology. (By the way, it's Triton that rules where I am from.)

The one tip that I have for any beginning mermaid, whether you are going professional or just doing it for recreation is: keep your story straight! Make certain you know where your from, where you sleep, who your pets are, what you eat, etc. Another great tip is to tell kids that you are a mammal. Especially if you perform in a swimming pool. They are going to want to know why you can't hold your breath indefinitely. I always tell kids that I'm a mammal, no gills (I even let them see the back of my neck). I sleep in a secret cave off the coast of Seattle. I also tell them that I wear goggles in the pool because there is a special film over my eyes that allows me to see in salt or freshwater, but the chlorine will eat away that film and make it so I can't swim in the ocean anymore. Whatever your short coming is as a mermaid (short breath hold, goggles, kids seeing a spandex tail, etc) make it a strength by having a good story to go with it. Kids want to believe you are real, and even though they may see something they can't explain (why does the mermaid have seams on her legs?) if you have a story the magic won't be ruined. My best cover up? Kids asking me why they see me taking my tail on and off. Of course, it's because I'm like a selkie, and can remove my skin. At events I've even gone so far as making a large production of how I promised I wouldn't show them what the transformation looked like because it's quite gruesome.

The only reason I have decided to be a professional mermaid is so that I can share this gift with children. Even still, I try to keep my rates low enough that it's affordable to many people. And I pride myself on doing lots of volunteer work and meet and greet events. I think it's so important to remind kids to use their imagination and to not let it go (even as an adult). Being able to bring sparkle back into the lives of children is why I love doing what I do.