The "Why Stopper"

Lately I have been back into reading, just devouring books - and not fluffy ones either (oh, except for the Stephanie Meyers' vampire series "Twilight", which have hooked me!).

I have been reading a lot of non-fiction to help me better understand the conundrums that face us (i.e., the military/industrial complex, agri-business, big pharma, the global financial system, and politics in general).

Reading is one of my great passions - I adore it. I could read the entire day (and night) away if the subject matter grabs me. It intrigues me and it makes me think more deeply. It makes for better conversations because I'm better informed. Reading is like life blood to me. Could not live without it.

One of the best things about reading is it means I watch less television. I can't remember the last time I watched "The Young and the Restless" and I love that soap opera! But I haven't missed seeing it of late. My mind is too full of other fascinating stuff.

I did turn on the TV today during the noon news hour and saw a commercial that completely shocked me. It's for a digital device/application called the "Why Stopper" that can be programmed to answer all of your kid's questions. So, rather than be bugged with the "why, why, why" phase of your growing and developing offspring, you can digitally outsource the answering of the little enquiring mind (i.e., get off the hook for answering questions like "Why do birds fly?" and "Why is the sky blue?" by punching in the query and passing your phone to your kid to listen to the answer). Talk about promoting parental abdication!

Hey, here's an idea - make sure you put it on speaker phone so you can actually learn the answer yourself, dumbo!

I predict that people who use the "Why Stopper" with their children will soon find out it shuts down all communication and their relationship goes kaput. Think about it - how would you feel if you asked your significant other an important (to you) question and they whipped out a device, punched in the query and handed it over to you to listen to a surrogate respond?! The relationship would not be long for this world is my bet.

Some questions are hard to answer - no doubt about that. I remember about 19 years ago when my youngest stepdaughter was 9 years old. We were parked in the car while her dad was inside a store running an errand. She had her nose in a Danielle Steele novel (her mother was letting her read it, don't ask me to explain it) and out from the back seat came this question: "Lisa, what's incest?"

Gulp. If I had had a "Why Stopper" I might have used it on that one. But, I didn't have such a thing and had to use my adult brain and plain old common sense to construct an answer that was both true and suitable for the consumption of a 9 year old. I can't remember exactly what I said, but her 13 year old sister, who was also in the backseat, smiled approvingly and said I not only answered the question, but that she also learned something! Whew. Bullet dodged.

When my husband got back in the car, he took one look at my face and said "Whaaat?!?" I told him he wasn't allowed to leave me on my own to deal with his kids ever again (just kidding).

Todo bien. (It's all good).