Go Ask Your Father: Bloating, Drugs, Jumping, Diabetes #atozchallenge

is for Ask. Because anyone with kids, who has been around kids, or even just heard of kids knows that they ask a lot of questions. Hence, every Friday I answer them right here on my little bloggity blog. While I inject a bit of humor and few extras into my blog answers, the boys get a slightly more watered down version, yet just as informative, answer. Ever since they discovered I started answering their questions, they’ve become aware of their questioning. So it’s had an educational experience I didn’t expect. Naturally, we’ve covered topics in every category of life. From things falling out of the sky to police cars. From Bavaria to tentacles. It’s been a learning experience for all of us at times. I’m not too proud to say “I don’t know, let’s look that one up” (this doesn’t stop me trying to give totally bogus answers, though).

1. What’s bloating?

It’s when our bodies retain water and swell up. Like Guppie’s (their grandfather) ankles if he’s been standing for too long. It could be either from water retention or from a build up of gasses. So if you’re not peeing or farting you’ll eventually become bloated. Like Shrek says, “Better out than in!” Or those washed up whales we occasionally hear about. Gasses build up inside them from the bacteria breaking down their muscle and tissue. If they aren’t dealt with they could explode. Like this one.

2. What are drugs?

Better living through chemistry! Drugs can allow us to live better lives or they can destroy our lives. We take drugs for things like fevers and cold relief, headaches, high blood pressure, and even for chemotherapy. There are so many different drugs for so many different ailments that it would be impossible to list them all here. When taken properly drugs can improve our lives and make us healthy. However, some people don’t take them properly because they think drugs will make them feel good. But then they always need more. They become addicted. And no. Drugs aren’t the reason for Nanny’s pain. She needs those.

3. How do they jump that high?

We were watching basketball highlights last night during supper and most of the highlights were slam dunks. Something the boys have never (nor ever will) see my vertically challenged self do. They jump high enough to dunk because they have the hight and the leg power to reach a hoop 10 feet off the ground. However, these players aren’t the real jumpers. The high jumpers get their whole body up there! The record men’s high jump was set in ’93 by Javier Sotomayor from Cuba at 8 1/4 feet! The women’s record stands at 6′ 10 1/4″ set in 1987 by Stefka Kostadinova from Bulgaria.

4. What’s the difference between type 1 diabetes and type 2?

Diabetes is when your body can’t control the amount of sugar in your blood. Our neighbor’s 10 year old son was just diagnosed with type 1 shortly before Christmas. His older sister is diabetic, too. Nanny is type 2. While our neighbor’s son and daughter need insulin shots, Nanny’s diabetes is controlled through her diet. Type 1 occurs suddenly while type 2 is gradual. Type 1 usually occurs in people under 20 while type 2 typically occurs in people older than 40. Type 2 often occurs in those who are overweight while type 1 can occur at any weight. Type 1 can be more severe causing drastic highs and lows (often very dangerous) in blood sugar levels.