“All children, except one, grow up” (7). Wendy knew she would grow up from the age of two: “Two is the beginning of the end” (7) for her childhood. Wendy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Darling are a good couple with a tightly balanced budget. However, when Mrs. Darling should have been totaling the bills, she drew the children she dreamed of having instead. When Wendy was born, the couple debated whether they could keep her, “as she was another mouth to feed” (8). Mr. Darling fussed over the check book while Mrs. Darling tried to convince him they could keep her. To limit the cost of a nanny, they employed a Newfoundland dog named Nana, who “proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse” (9).

The narrator wonders whether the reader has seen a map “of a child’s mind, which is not only confused, but keeps going round all the time” (11). It goes round so much because children dream of and imagine their own Neverland. “Of course the Neverlands vary a good deal” (11). John’s Neverland differs from Michael’s, and Michael’s differs from Wendy’s. Part of Wendy’s Neverland is her belief in Peter Pan. Mrs. Darling asks Wendy about Peter, and she simply explains that he is Peter Pan; “At first, Mrs.