theonion.com — After weeks of being sleepy all the time and never finishing his din-din at night, area daddy Howard Lewis was put in a bye-bye box early Monday morning so that he could go on a vacation with the birds and clouds in the sky. According to sources, Daddy can't play Chutes & Ladders tonight, but he loved Ryan and his little sister, Rebecca, very much.
Mar 22, 2008 View in Crawl 4
Closed AccountMar 23, 2008
The tears didn't hit me until the part about the ballet recital.
lostarchitectMar 23, 2008
is it pathetic that the onion can make me tear up?
anysillynameMar 23, 2008
touching story but not digg worthy
yamijimMar 24, 2008
I respect your POV but will have maintain my original stance on the matter.Let me also clarify, that i do not believe it needs to be removed or edited because i find it offensive. i am merely voicing my opinion on the piece.
sarahcMar 24, 2008
... and possibly dissillusion them.Lying is a great way to undermine a childs trust.There's lies that keep things simple... like "Mummies tummy" for where babies come from, and there's lies that warp the truth "The stalk brings them!"I'd try to be truthful to a child without getting complicated.Look at the film Kill Bill... where he explains about the dead goldfish...
annefranceMar 25, 2008
At the end of the story, the children mention that mom wants to sit them down and discuss what happened - she is obviously aware they have accepted the gentle parts of what the adults have told them, but do not grok the finality of their loss. And as much as we are laughing until that point at the bittersweet humor of the piece, we too are only reminded at the very end that Daddy is not coming back, a secret dream we all share and never admit.
kingofbeastsMar 25, 2008
Hey clemtinite -- I think it's more than a parody of ridiculous human interest stories. If you look at the stuff the children are saying, it's not even in the same league, qualitatively, as the kind of stuff that might appear in even the most cliche story. Instead, it's the kind of stuff parents have to tell children (yes, we really do have to use lines like this with very young children) who are not ready to understand the full implications of death.
x510Mar 25, 2008
Like someone said, this is sad for the sake of sad ... that's what makes it funny.Bart's people.
rosemarie0507Mar 27, 2008
I just dont even feel right about having this posted on my page. I remember when two foster kids came to stay at our house for two weeks. When I asked my mother why only two weeks, she said their parents went on vacation. Now back then, we did not question our parents but all I remember thinking was, "what kind of crummy people would leave their kids with total strangers for two weeks to go on vacation?" My mother never explained it was a permanent vacation and I grew up with this rotten memory of what parents can be like in this world. Im glad I dont have little kids so I dont have to lie to them and/or forget to, or not know when to tell them the truth.
jaaaaMar 28, 2008
Yeah, unfortunately I can relate to this article too . . . my wife died when my daughter was only 4 months old (she's almost 2.5 yrs old now) so I've just started trying to explain why she doesn't have a mommy when all the other kids at her daycare do. Its tough to be honest (unlike the Onion article) but I think it will be the best way to deal with her questions . . . now if I could just figure out how to be honest and still make her understand . . . :(