Big Sis is going through a bush-fire phase. She constantly asks questions like - does the bush-fire destroy the animals homes? Where will they live now? Would a bush-fire burn me? Could you use the windscreen wipers if you drove through it? Should I wear sunscreen in a bush-fire?
She eats her dinner dressed in her fireman’s hat. Little Bro wears one of her caps backwards to ensure he is included (mental note - must source second fireman’s hat for dress up box). She is also prolifically painting what DSO and I refer to as her bush-fire series. Every morning she insists on watching Fireman Sam on ABC Kids.
I’m not sure how it all started. I think the news on tv and radio occasionally filters through to her, and I guess we may have talked a bit about them particularly before our mammoth driving holiday which was through the heart of bush-fire country.
It makes me wonder how much of the really bad news that surrounds us every day filters to really little kids? I’ve seen a few segments on tv and the internet where experts state the absolute obvious - like talk to your children about threats like global warming but try to give it an optimistic spin. I assume this means talk about hanging your washing on the line rather than using the drier and not what we are all going to do when we are under sea level!
I remember when I was a kid, about 10 years old, thinking deeply about the nuclear threat. I thought it was inevitable that we were all going to die horribly in some cataclysmic nuclear holocaust. My immediate concern was that our Mormon neighbors had a full bomb shelter equipped with tins of food, toilet paper, all the essentials and we appeared to have nothing! I still remember raising the issue with my father who said, “Well, it’s good they’ve done all that work, if there’s a nuclear explosion we’ll simply go next door and take over their cellar, their older and weaker than us - and in those circumstances that’s how the new world will operate!” [True story!]
I was strangely comforted by that. I thought, at least we have a plan! So maybe that’s all kids need when they become aware of all the disasters facing us, the sense that we (the grown ups) have a plan. I suppose that’s our job?
This should work for at least 12 years, until Big Sis works out that we really have no more idea than the kids do. I have this vision of Big Sis at about 16 looking at DSO and I and saying - “I can’t believe you people used to shower in drinking water, what a waste - what were you thinking?”
bush fire, dress up box, firemans hat, global warming
February 22nd, 2007 at 11:36 am
I remember being at school when the whole Faulklands war thing happened, and just thinking “that’s it, we’re all going to die”, and it was absolutely terrifying. I’ve got to the point where I make sure Miss M doesn’t see the news, since it’s so totally horrific, and much of it is inappropriate viewing for anyone, let alone small children. Reality is all well and good, but I prefer to live in a state of semi-denial!
February 22nd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
It seems that only the most negative aspects of everything is emphasised on the news, so it gives you quite a skewed impression of what is happening in the world on a daily basis!
A doctor friend once told me that he advises all patients suffering from depression to immediately stop reading the newspaper and watching television news. It’s probably bad for all our mental health, but worse for the more vulnerable!