The Diary of Fiona J McNally

It's Stressful Being a Parent

I spend my life watching out for my son's safety. I'm careful about strapping him in the car, in his pram, in his high chair. I make sure I never take my eyes off him for an instant if we're in public and if I have to turn away I keep one hand on him. At home I remove all poisons, medicines, razors and watch out for hot drinks, electricity, open doors, etc. I am canceling my gym membership because he hates the creche and I worry that he will catch something there. I try to be forever vigilant. I try but yesterday I realised that there can just be no room for error.

Sean had run a bath for JJ and for some reason he had put the hot in first. Our bathroom taps are deceptive in that you can run the hot but it never gets warm for ages. Well yesterday it kicked into gear at high speed and in a split second while we were pottering about, JJ climbed into the bath into the hot water. The scream he let out was sickening and Sean had him out of the water and under the cold hose immediately. He was screaming, I was crying and we spent almost 30 minutes hosing him down. I hosed him with the cold until his feet turned blue and he started shivering. After this I sat him at the kitchen sink and made him pretend to be splashing under the cold tap as his hands were still quite red. I felt sick. If I could have swapped places with him and been scalded instead I would have gladly taken it. I felt very bad as a parent. Very bad indeed. I guess these things happen in childhood. I have heard friends tell me how their kids have rolled off change tables even though we're all warned from day one to be careful with babies when changing them. I have heard how kids have fallen under reversing cars in the driveway, broken limbs, fallen into pools. I used to be quite cocky and think that the parents of these children should have been more careful. After yesterday I feel ashamed.

I have no doubt that this is a lesson to me to be more watchful and to be aware of the fact that toddlers are very fast and get up to and into all kinds of mischief. JJ is fine and I am more than grateful for that but I'll be keeping a much closer eye on him in the future.

posted by Fiona McNally @ 9/30/2004 09:17:00 am 0 comments

The Passion of the Christ - Mel Gibson Out of Control

I had wanted to see this movie for ages. I was bitterly disappointed. The fact that it is in Aramaic and Latin adds an authentic touch but the violence started to get to me after the first half an hour. I really feel that Mel has lost the plot to a certain extent and that his Catholic stance has blinded him.

It is hard to deny that the movie has an Anti-Semitic bent. Pilate is seen as an unfortunate man who is battling his own demons and who should be pitied. The Rabbis, however, and the Jewish people in general, are portrayed as blood thirsty maniacs. Examples of Catholic teachings litter the movie at every turn.

On the positive side, Jim Caveziel was a convincing and likeable Jesus and the cinematography was good. Maybe Mr Gibson should stick to Lethal Weapon sequels in future.

Shana Tov! It is Rosh Hashanah on Thursday.

Shalom!

posted by Fiona McNally @ 9/15/2004 06:03:00 am 2 comments