Paralympic fun

My son became slightly addicted to the Olympic games, to the point that there were real tears when he learned they wouldn't be around for another four years. So it is great that there is another event to help broaden his global horizons (we are living in a small town that is decidedly un-multicultural).

There are a few things that have popped up with the paralympics, however - apart from the obvious gripe that every time we've switched on, the only sport we've seen is basketball.

It has been a good education for him to see the games. Apart from continuing to learn of different nations, he's learned more about the human condition. He's learned now about blindness, spinal injury, cerebral palsy, and birth "abnormalities", and how people are able to be active and contribute even after serious injury. I'm a little apprehensive as to how he will blurt out his observations in public, however. Previous experience has taught me that he will probably say something loudly and excitedly in the wrong place and time.

Why do I worry about this? Well, a few months ago we had a Sunday School lesson that involved a bit of language learning - how you say hello, goodbye, and thank you in a number of different languages. So Eldest's favourite question when we looked at the world map was, "How do you say hello in this place, Mummy?"

That was fine. But a week later, we travelled down to Sydney for a dose of Yum Cha (we're kind of Yum Cha junkies now that we can't have it any time we like...). It was in a rather multicultural neighbourhood, with signs written in Chinese, Korean, Italian and so forth. As a new reader, he was curious to know what all the signs said, and why he couldn't make out the letters. But the culmination of his grand day was when we walked past a cafe to hear him ask in a very loud voice:

"How do you say hello in this place, Mummy?"

We could hear laughter in the cafe seats as we hurried away, trying to explain.