How Do You Explain Euthanasia to a Kid?

In one important scene in Susanne Bier’s In A Better World, Christian confronts his father and blames him for the untimely death of his mother.  The father tries his best to explain to his young son (maybe around 12 years old), why he had to say yes to the euthanasia of his mother. 

In that scene, you could feel the hatred of the son towards his Dad, because he could not believe that his father would allow his mother to die that way.  Even in a conversation scene with his own mother, the father said that his wife told him, ‘He (their son) would blame you (the father) for my (wife) death.’  I guess, the parents, especially the mother, failed to talk to their son, before they proceeded with the euthanasia.  The mother was suffering from cancer and was already in too much pain and just wanted to end it.    

I too, maybe, would react that way, if I was left in the dark.  One day, she’s alive, the next day, they pull the plug on her.  Of course, the kid would feel rage!  I guess the parents were afraid that the kid would not understand and decided not to explain things.  That made matters worse (and led to some catastrophic consequences in the movie). 

As in any relationship, communication is needed, especially in a very delicate matter, like dying and death, especially too, if the person dying is the mother!  Whether the kid can understand yet or not, at least he was told about it.  Not being told really sucks and allows the kid to form his own opinion about things.

Why You Have to Stand Up to Bullies Even When They May Hurt You

Movies which feature kids being bullied is not uncommon in Hollywood.  I watched Susanne Bier’s In A Better World today, and one of the kids there, Elias, was being bullied, on a daily basis, yet he never fights back.  One day, a new kid in school, Christian, sees him being treated that way, decides to take on the bully in a frighteningly violent scene.  He beats the bully with a bicycle pump and then puts a knife on his throat!  That was enough to deter the bully from messing with them in the future.

Bullies in school are never fun and most likely, they too suffer bullying at home, that’s why they vent their aggression in school.  Although I was very lucky never to  be bullied in school (it’s not very common in the Philippines), if I were in those kids shoes, I would fight back, even if it meant a broken nose or a visit to the principal’s office.  I’m sure, my feisty Mom would not agree to it too!  I’m just lucky to have her since she never backed down from anyone in our school.  Talk about having a Tiger Mama taking care of her cubs. So I always felt secure in whatever school I was enrolled in.  Also, it paid that I was smart in Math and Science.  My classmates (bullies included) needed my assignments (which I allowed them to copy) so they just pretty much left me alone.