A conversation about the end of the world, with my 9 year old daughter
The end of the world!...apparently.
How a child's mind processes Adult issues.
Children are even worrying about the end of the world!
To myself, it seems totally absurd that in a society where children go to the cupboard when they get hungry, go to an adult when another child is bullying them, and go to a doctor or mother for medicine when they are poorly, that they are sitting at home worrying about adults discussing the end of the world, which is currently predicted for 21st December 2012.
What made me think of this issue today? Well as the heading of this article suggests, it was my 9 year old daughter.
I was waking this morning, hoping to get on with some chores, and not anything of real substantial thought in my brain, apart from whether to iron the school uniform or do some more washing first.
All of a sudden my daughter totters into my bedroom and asks if she can talk to me. Whenever they ask instead of just blurting a large speech, it as a mother makes me worry. So as you can imagine, they are immediately given my time.
The conversation!
Daughter; " Mum, can I ask you something?"
Me; " What's up?"
Daughter; " My friends are saying that the world is going to end in 2012, is it really, and how do they know?"
Me; " No, the world is not going to end in 2012. That is the latest predicted date for the world to end, because it is the end of the Mayan calender. They were an old people and you can not write for the future to infinity!"
Daughter; " So after 2012 there will be no more calenders?"
Me; " No darling, it means nothing will happen, but maybe I should not bother with Christmas presents that year just in case it does, don't want to waste money!"
Daughter;" But, the moon was a planet and that died!"
Me;" Just let me get up and get dressed!"
And there goes our highly intelligent conversation. Well what else can you expect from a grown up that doesn't like being bugged early Sunday morning?!
Lets face it though, what chance do I have of convincing a 9-year-old girl, that the world is not going to end, when she sees all the articles and news feeds about the world ending. Grown adults are telling people that the world is going to end.
Obviously I saw the funny side of my daughter thinking the end of the Mayan calendar meant there would no longer be any calendars. I suddenly got an image of all these religious fanatics confiscating calendars and burning them all.
The sad side is that children have to listen to a bleak foreboding of them not having a future to look forward to.
These fanatics that cause this kind of panic and influence the innocent with fear, should not be allowed to benefit from any money they make from such idiotic ramblings. Because they can protest to be believers of what they preach as much as they like, but in my eyes it is purely through greed that they do these things.We are animals, no human would EVER know the end of the world was upon us!
