No news is good news

   We are in early March as I write this and people are losing their minds over the corona virus. Don't get me wrong, it's a sort of flu on steroids and people are dying from it. It's also spreading like wildfire. The media, however, seems to be treating it like a zombie apocalypse. Regrettably, I am guilty of watching the evening news frequently. This dangerous behavior puts me at risk for the dreaded "intelligent questions" from the offspring.
    Has it been a slow news year? I wouldn't have thought so although it's hard to tell in this age of saturation. Whatever small shred of news there is will be reported upon ad nauseam. It regrettably becomes inescapable and seeps into the schools. I now have to deal with the junior grapevine. The questions invariably come at night before bed, when brains are tired and time is short, of course. I hear mostly about video games but also about classmates and sometimes the news. Favorite topics include nightmare inducing weather events and deadly diseases.
    It's up to mom, as usual, to try to answer the questions that come. I used to think that someone who has her face in a screen every chance she gets would be pretty oblivious. Regrettably for me, she picks up on more than I expect. It's not that I wish she was dumber, I wish I was smarter since I often don't know how to answer her. "Should I be afraid of the corona virus?" "Are ghosts real?" "Do we get tornadoes in New Jersey?" "Am I crazy?!" 'How should I know?!' doesn't cut it with some people. Damn. Google, take me away!
   I try to be as honest as I can, frequently forget to look up things I promise to research, and fake the rest. It's a fine line between stalling before bed tactics and genuine questions I don't want to miss. I am one of the first lines of defense against misinformation in addition to my eight million other jobs as mom. O Goody, another important job! There goes the neighborhood. Remember all those "What to Expect" books that new parents always seem to be reading? I could sum it up in about two sentences. Guess your ass off. Hope for the best.