"Which of us kids is your favorite?"
"Do you like my latest bit of art? toilet roll glued to a box"
What about adopted kids? What about kids who came from really difficult childhoods. What about a kid that was the product of his mum being raped?
Do those kids really need to know that? Are they emotionally developed enough to deal with such harsh realities?
The OP doesn't seem to have had to deal with particularly hard questions at all.
Say there was an escaped convict loose in your town, who had previously murdered several children. Your kid sees some vague reference to it on the news before bed time, and asks "What is that about dad?"
Would you answer:
a). Oh it's quite scary Son. There's a madman who sneaks into kids bedrooms and cuts them up. He's loose outside.
Honesty and truth are not absolute. The delivery is quite important, as is the environment in which this delivery occurs. In a family environment where parents have been honest with their children, their children were nurtured in a different way, so examples such as these are quite meaningless.
For the sake of argument:
> "Do you like my latest bit of art? toilet roll glued to a box"
You're a regular Duchamp!
As for the multiple choice question (which is worse than a CNN poll), how about none of the above, or
c). (Father has already explained the situation in an honest way to his son, explaining, too, the precautions he -- and the town -- are taking to keep his son safe.)
In the end, though, one of the "lies" that parents have been telling children for ages now is the bedtime story where the children are killed to teach a harsh reality: back then, children died quite often.
I don't think kids are developed enough to calculate risk well enough. Adults also generally suck at that. So even if you tell him the good news (What precautions you+town have taken to keep him safe), he will focus on the bad news (Murderer on the loose) so I don't actually think in the kids eyes that is any better than (a).
"Which of us kids is your favorite?" "Do you like my latest bit of art? toilet roll glued to a box"
What about adopted kids? What about kids who came from really difficult childhoods. What about a kid that was the product of his mum being raped?
Do those kids really need to know that? Are they emotionally developed enough to deal with such harsh realities?
The OP doesn't seem to have had to deal with particularly hard questions at all.
Say there was an escaped convict loose in your town, who had previously murdered several children. Your kid sees some vague reference to it on the news before bed time, and asks "What is that about dad?" Would you answer:
a). Oh it's quite scary Son. There's a madman who sneaks into kids bedrooms and cuts them up. He's loose outside.
b). Nothing to worry about, get back into bed :)