"Are You Real" Idea Bank [Archive]

Thalassa

08-03-2012, 07:31 PM

I thought it might be useful to have a bank of ideas new mers can use to answer kids when they get the comments (because I know we've all had them or will have them):

1) "Are you a real mermaid?"

2) "You're not real!"

I know some mers prefer to go all out with a "Yes, I am real!" while others prefer to say something like "I am right now." I also know some mers like to explain how it's just fun to pretend, while others like to explain the tail.

So, mers, what's your take? I haven't figured mine out yet, I'm leaning towards the, "I am right now" answer but I'm still not sure how I want to respond to number 2.

Please remember that this is an idea bank and try to include a statement you could say to the kids in your reply.

Thank you, everymer, for replying!

Mermaid Saphira

08-03-2012, 07:35 PM

I have used this tactic before as I saw it on the forum and thought it was great idea! Anyway, A little boy told me that I wasn't a real mermaid..I simply replied "If I'm not a mermaid, then what do I look more like? A dragon? Maybe a fairy? Or a Princess?" He was in awe over this comeback and did not say anything the rest of the time I was there. ;)

Winged Mermaid

08-03-2012, 07:51 PM

"What do YOU think?" is a popular answer. Kids just tend to get super shy when I use that though. I don't as much, "Are you real?" as much as, "What is your tail/suit made out of?" :/ Only the really young kids see me as "real", and usually they're too young to speak well to me and we both end up getting confused trying to converse with each other. Feel like I need a mom translator.

Lyna

08-03-2012, 08:03 PM

"Can you see me? Then I'm real."
"I'm really sitting here, aren't I?"

New York Mermaid

08-03-2012, 10:01 PM

(kid- are you a real mermaid?)
Me: Am I real? Well what does real mean? is the wind real?
(Kid- yes it is)
Me: well how do you know, you cannot see it..
(Kid- but i can feel it)
Me- yea and you can see and feel my tail too, im here arent i, so im real.

(Kid: you are not real)
Me: Well why do you think that?
(Kid- cause i can see your knees)
Me: Oh you mean the bones under my scales? yep knees almost like yours, but mine are stuck together to move my tail so i can swim. Did you know penguins have knees too under their feathers.

**plus it helps to have that mermaid skeletal system chart handy..lol**

Little_Orca

08-03-2012, 10:25 PM

Cute ideas, Lan.

Mermaid Hamant

08-03-2012, 10:35 PM

Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!

08-04-2012, 06:59 AM

"You're not real."

"But I'm REALLY having a lot of fun."

Arella

08-04-2012, 09:34 AM

Kid- "Are you a real mermaid"
Mermaid- "Are you a real human"

Thalassa

08-04-2012, 09:36 AM

These are great, merfolks!

merboy78xy

08-04-2012, 11:44 PM

Freshwater-- I love that. I always thought that's what I would try first... Always looking skeptical and in awe of seeing a "REAL" human!! hehehe

Mermaid Hamant

08-25-2012, 01:38 PM

I had a little girl recently ask me if I was real. I told her that I wasn't, but that I wear my tail because I would like to be. She then asked, "So you wear it so people will recognize you as real?" I told her that I did and she replied very seriously, "Well I recognize you as real."
She then proceeded to beg her mom for her own mermaid tail. lol

Kaida, Queen of the Dragonfishes

09-22-2014, 03:35 AM

Great topic, I`d love to see this resurface with some more fresh ideas. I live to far away to try this, but anyone ever asked a Disney Princess or a Wiki Wachee Mermaid for their answer?

-Annwyn-

09-22-2014, 06:21 AM

I used to tell kids I was real. But it really began to irritate me because I knew it simply wasn't true, and kids aren't stupid.

I think it good to let them know that "I'd like be a mermaid" and let them make up their own minds. Most kids I think would indulge their imaginations and play along anyway. :)

Echidna

09-22-2014, 07:42 AM

I usually tell kids up front I'm a performer, which often leads to disappointment (and always to "mommy, I want a tail too!" entreaties).
I think it's good to let the kids decide what they want to believe.

For example by being extra vague, or saying "I'm a dragon! See my long scaly tail? Rawr!"
-which 99% of the time will be met with a reproaching, "you're not a dragon! You're a mermaid!!" ;)

Mermaid Galene

09-22-2014, 09:27 AM

I think the appropriate response depends on the age of the child and what they want from you by asking that question. In general, I take Lanai's approach. Other comebacks:

"Define 'real.'"

"No, but we're all having so much fun pretending!"

"We're exercising! Because exercising your imagination is just as important as exercising your body."

"Research shows that people with active imaginations are smarter and healthier. I do this for my health."

And if you want get metaphysical:

"What's 'real' is different for everybody. The really fun part is when we stretch our imaginations to include someone else's reality inside our own."

Aziara

09-22-2014, 09:43 AM

Kid- "Are you a real mermaid"
Mermaid- "Are you a real human"

This is probably my favorite comeback so far, haha.

SeaGlass Siren

09-22-2014, 10:03 AM

i like galene's

"No, but we're all having so much fun pretending!"

Witty and fun!

Miyu

09-22-2014, 11:14 AM

I'm kind of working it into my persona's story that I "magically" became a mermaid, rather than was born one... So I can tell kids that sometimes I am, and sometimes I have legs!

AniaR

09-22-2014, 12:14 PM

this can get so heated I actually have a whole chapter in my next book about it. lol I have tried a lot of things...

Marlin

09-22-2014, 01:33 PM

I used to tell kids I was real. But it really began to irritate me because I knew it simply wasn't true, and kids aren't stupid.

Miss Marlin had nice way of handling this... She has been telling the older ones who were INSISTING: "NO YOU ARE NOT REAL" that "You are old enough to tell, don't ruin it for the younger ones", and that seems to quell that a little. Keeps it fun for the younger kids too. :)

Rivertee

09-22-2014, 01:42 PM

Kids: Are you real
Me: Do believe in the impossible?
Kids: Yes
Me: There's your answer
------------
Kids:No
Me: Then you'll never belive me if I told you anyway.

Kid: You're not real!
Me: Why?
Kid: I saw you put on your tail
Me: Well if you put on clothes does that mean you're still naked?
Kid: No! I'm wearing clothes
Me: Well I wear a tail because it's what meremaids wear.

That usually works, I also adopted Seraina's idea about the pendant to explain me going from legs to tail. ^.^

PearlieMae

09-22-2014, 01:52 PM

So many good, evasive answers!

"You're not real."

"But I'm REALLY having a lot of fun."
---
"You are old enough to tell, don't ruin it for the younger ones"
---
"No, but we're all having so much fun pretending!"

These are my favorites.

My daughter's is good, too...

"You're not real!"

"No, I'm not. Go have fun at the grownups' table, you little snot."

SeaGlass Siren

09-22-2014, 02:23 PM

"You're not real!"

"No, I'm not. Go have fun at the grownups' table, you little snot."

LOLLLL omg that deserves a medal

Rivertee

09-22-2014, 03:01 PM

Oh man I remember my Dad telling kids that all the time at Christmas parties.

Chrissy

09-22-2014, 06:25 PM

kid: Are you a real mermaid?
Me: yes I am
kid: no your not
me: are you a real human?
kid: either answers yes or looks confused
me: I change the subject

BayouMermaid

09-22-2014, 06:56 PM

"Are you real?"

"Well I sure hope so!"

Mermaid Wesley

09-22-2014, 10:08 PM

I just say: well of course I'm real! Smile, and then change the subject. The older kids know I'm pretending and the younger ones just fall in love.

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Sonnet

01-15-2015, 09:35 PM

Hahahaha Pearlie Mae! I know this is old but such a good read. 'You little snot' killed me! Hahaha

MermaidBonnie

01-27-2015, 11:56 AM

I ask the child if he or she is real. When they say yes I say well how can I know for sure that you are? They always give the same criteria like I can see them I can hear them etc. so then I just use the same criteria against myself. If they still are you I say I am using exactly what you used to tell me that you are real so if it's not working then there's only one conclusion. If I'm not real then you're not real and we're both unreal beings in a real world. Now what do we do with our unreal selves? Or I can take a silly approach and be like really I'm not real how did I get here oh no?! get a bit dramatic and have fun with it.

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MermaidBonnie

01-27-2015, 12:01 PM

I remember my first time going to wiki Wachee springs. I was about 10 years old and I asked the pretty mermaid if she was real. She told me she was not. I wanted desperately to believe that she was real but it was really obvious that she was not as she was in a Basic fabric tail. her response ruin the whole experience for me. I wished that she had played along and did not tell me that she was not real. I lived close to that park and I never went back because the magic was gone.this is why I never tell the child who looks at me and knows that I'm not real that I'm not real. To admit something like that could really break the magic.

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Echidna

01-28-2015, 07:43 AM

How about saying
"this is just a costume! But-" *confidential whisper* "-beneath it I'm a real mermaid!"

Wouldn't be a lie either, considering some mermaid myths probably stem from pearl divers, thus a "real mermaid" is just a competent diver making her livelihood from the water.

Mermaid Galene

01-28-2015, 09:46 AM

I like that, Echidna! That would make the questioner start to think about what a "real mermaid" actually is.

Mermaid Lilium

02-19-2015, 03:27 PM

"You're not real!"

"No, I'm not. Go have fun at the grownups' table, you little snot."

I know this was written a while ago pearlie, but only just saw it now and it certainly garnered a giant belly laugh from me :P you never fail to make me laugh <3 lol

so far I've admitted to older kids that i'm not real but asked them to not spoil it for younger kids, and they were more amazed and facinated by the costume and that I made it all =) With the little kids that ask I just say yes I am, flop my fluke a bit and invite them to touch it, pull the ticklish routine and then change the subject, haven't had to deal with horrendously stubborn kids yet but if they were that vehement that I wasn't real I would probably say 'I'm as real as you and others want me to be' and then ask them not to spoil the magic for the younger kids who do believe.

Little_Orca

02-19-2015, 11:48 PM

I had several kids ask if I was a real mermaid, and what I say to them is "Hmm... well, it's see.... I don't have wings so I cannot be a dragon... and I don't have a horn, so I can't be a unicorn... I must be a mermaid!" Usually that works, especially with younger kids, and it gets them giggling.

Mary Marine

02-20-2015, 12:09 AM

"Are you a real mermaid?"

Well, a mermaid is a lady with the upper body of a human and the lower half of a fish who swims with her fish tail, right? 'Cause I sure ain't swimming by kicking my legs. So yeah, I wasn't born a mermaid and I don't have a tail all the time, but according to the dictionary I am, in fact, a mermaid. :mermaid kiss: