As I expected, I'm going to have to have a few more conversations with my son to make sure he truly understands what is going on. Today he threw a mini temper tantrum when I told him that him and Grandpa would not be able to visit my spaceship.
There's not really much of a guide when it comes to telling your child you're going to space for eleven years. I watched some videos on how to tell your kid you are going on a work trip or going into the military, and they had some helpful tips, but in both situations, it isn't the same.
The toughest part is the fact that I won't be able to write to him regularly. It almost makes me wish that this mission didn't include freezing us into cryogenic sleep for the majority of the travel time to Europa. I say almost because the idea of floating around in a little metal vessel for six years with nothing to do sounds like a form of psychological torture.
Still, if he could send me letters, pictures, and videos every day and I could respond every few days with video on the ship it would be much easier.
Honestly, how do you explain cryogenic sleep to a kid without it sounding like death. Deep deep sleep for a long time? Right now, I've been trying to explain it using bears hibernating in the winter as an example. Hopefully it somewhat gets through to him without completely confusing him for when his class has their nature unit.
The good thing is not all the questions are difficult to answer. Some of them simply make zero sense while others are just extremely goofy like "Do people make poop in space?" or "How do you know when you are upside down when you're floating?"
While the endless questions can get a bit annoying at times, I am very grateful he is asking so many. For one thing it shows he is curious, showing just how smart he is. The questions also seem to ease his mind about the situation, so even when they got to be a bit annoying at times, she made sure to remain receptive to them and answer enthusiastically to encourage him to ask more in the future.
YOU ARE READING
Europa
Science-FictionIn order to embark on a mission to discover alien life on the icy moon of Jupiter Maria must leave her life on Earth behind, including her father and her seven-year-old son Diego. She thought the hardest part of the mission would be saying goodbye...
