How to allay your kids' quite natural fear of Crashcart

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

I arrived home about midway thru the debate last night. My 10-year-old was very happy to see me; he had a school assignment to watch the debate and was bored just minutes into it. I asked him whether Cheney seemed scary. He acknowledged his fear. So then I became Cheney, stooping low, grimacing, and telling him in a gravel voice that I'd eat him for breakfast if he didn't watch his back. The dark humor allayed my son's worries -- even the vice president, he realizes, isn't quite as bad as a child-savoring cannibal (at least not yet).