Today I went out and got the island newspaper from the box, unfolding it on the coffee table. Another yellow sticky note ad shouted from the front page, where it was placed, advertising for “evening and weekend childcare” at a local montessori school. “GET AWAY!” the ad proclaimed in big bold letters.
Abigail looked at the ad. She can read now: “Get away.”
So then she wanted to know, “Why does it say ‘Get away’?”
My daughter wanted to know why people would want to get away, and what they would want to get away from.
Now Ted and I have recently begun trying to explain more of the world to her. We’ve started trying to explain evil and good and a little bit more about facts of life. We’ve decided not to hide everything from her.
But today, I didn’t have the heart to tell her the answer to her question. I didn’t know how to tell her the truth. The truth behind the big black bold letters, proclaming “GET AWAY!”. The kind of words one would write about poison, fire, explosives, or something one needed desperately to escape.
No, I didn’t know how to tell her that it is parents, mommies and daddies, – or at least some of them – who are the ones wanting to GET AWAY from their children.
1 response so far ↓
1 enoch // Oct 18, 2003 at 12:46 am
absolutely! parents need to get away, especially like now… tania’s recovering from PRK eye surgery (like LASIK) and i & my mom are helping with nally. tania sure wished she could get away just about now 😉