I have girls, so Thomas the Tank Engine has never really been a part of our lives. Not that girls can't like trains, of course - in fact, my girls love their Brio train tracks and battery operated train engine - but they typically don't go nutso for trains, planes, cars or any other form of transportation, the way their male counterparts do.
Personally, I find Thomas a little creepy - I think it's his face. It's like a John Wayne Gacy painting or something. And Sir Topham Hatt? What's his deal? I don't even want to know. But I admire Katherine Ozment's whole-hearted attempts to experience, with her train-loving toddler son, the Thomas and friends phenomenon with an open mind and a heart full of love. I can relate to the way she and her husband went round and round about whether or not to introduce William to their local "Day Out With Thomas" event, and in the end, decided "how could we not?", because it reminds me of my own family's ongoing too-young-for-Disneyland? conversation. Unlike the Ozments, we have yet to reach a resolution, but thinking about seeing living, breathing "princesses" through my 4.5 year old has cast on a whole new light on the idea.
You really do get to experience childhood again when you have kids - even if you have to force yourself at first. Being a kid is tough, even the second time around.
