Marea With an E

So many questions - keeping the “rabbits out”.

People love to hate Telstra but their recent advertising with the little boy asking his father about The Great Wall of China certainly resonates with a lot of parents. We have all had our “Nasi Goreng” moments. Children, God bless their cotton socks, are endlessly inquisitive and doggedly determined to get answers irrespective of how distrtacted, frazzled, ignorant or exhausted their parents are. If parents think that choosing a name for their offspring is the hard part (see my previous post “What’s in a name” and some great comments from Cazzie on the naming issue) think again. The yucky moments of poo, spew and goo are soon replaced by the tricky question moments where you’re expected to have the wisdom of Solomon and an Einstein-like knowledge of quantum physics. “Why is the sky blue?” is a doddle after “How does a telephone work? and “What do they do with Astronauts poo and wee?”. Questions about sex, sexuality and religion can leave you tongue -tied at 7.30 in the morning let me tell you.

Of course it’s the more philosophical questions that tend to hit the hardest and fellow blogger Cazzie’s well considered comments about the sad demise of Colin coincided with questions from my own family about the whale’s death and euthanasia in general.I don’t think we should shield children from death, be it that of a distressed animal or beloved relative, but it is important we give them all sides of the euthanasia argument because ultimately they have to come to their own conclusions at some stage irrespective of their parents’ views and irrespective of media hype and spin.

The scary thing is that as we all live (hopefully) longer lives questions about euthanasia will become trickier for just about everyone. Some will turn to the Internet for inspiration ( Telstra will be pleased) but I hope most people will just take the time to discuss these questions with their families as they arise and not be frightened about not having all the answers. Afterall “one man’s meat is another man’s rabbit”, or something like that.