Daddy Can We Cook Stones?

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Daddy: Why is my baby girl crying?

Jacqueline: He said I was lying.

Daddy: Who?

Jacqueline: Simon, the new boy in class.

Daddy: Lying about what?

Jacqueline: Stones. He said you can cook them.

Daddy: You cannot cook stones.

Jacqueline: He said he saw it on YouTube.

Daddy: It’s not true.

Jacqueline: What is the truth daddy?

 It’s tough being a mummy or daddy in 2023. How do parents respond to such questions? They used to rely on teachers. That’s why they send kids to school, but times have changed. Schools have become the enemy of home. They create their own ‘truth’ that Jackie is not a baby girl and Simon is not the new boy in class. Schools say Jackie can turn herself into a boy. Simon can also change into a girl, by chopping off his thing. The internet is not helping matters because there is an online video of someone cooking stones, but the face is not shown.

Simon is using an external measurement to the argument. Which is? He saw it on YouTube. Jackie is relying on experience. Cricket balls are hard as stones and break windows. That’s why her brothers play far away from the house. City Hall made a stone wall to stop over flooding of the local river. Her dad gave the garden a face lift last summer. He replaced the short pavement with stones.

Jackie’s father is in a quandary. How can he prove the all-mighty internet wrong? He smiles at his daughter. He tells her they’ll collect some pebbles on the beach on Saturday and try to cook them.

Daddy: To prove Simon wrong.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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