Be kind. Read more books. Eat ice cream.

February 1, 2018 11:14 PM

When a palliative care pediatrician in South Africa saw too many negative stories appear on his Twitter feed, he decided to share some positive, inspiring thoughts from his patients. He surveyed several patients and none of the children, aged between four and nine, said that they wished they had watched more television, or spent more time on Facebook.
posted by stillmoving (8 comments total)

I read this thread yesterday. Forest for the trees, and all that, but four to nine year olds do not belong on Facebook period. The tl;dr on the article is the final tweet in the series:

Be kind. Read more books. Spend time with your family. Crack jokes. Go to the beach. Hug your dog. Tell that special person you love them.

And I think you would be hard pressed to find adults who argue with this advice.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:57 AM on February 2, 2018

"Palliative care paediatrician"? That job title would break me.
posted by Harald74 at 6:03 AM on February 2, 2018 [11 favorites]

It was this bit that made my cry:

MANY mentioned their parents, often expressing worry or concern:
'Hope mum will be ok. She seems sad.' '
Dad mustn't worry. He'll see me again soon.'
'God will take care of my mum and dad when I'm gone'
posted by JanetLand at 6:06 AM on February 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

Cjorgensen, I wondered about that! I decided perhaps it was their impression of watching bigger kids/adults around them and deeming Facebook a waste of time.
posted by stillmoving at 6:39 AM on February 2, 2018

four to nine year olds do not belong on Facebook period

No argument here, but many parents put their kids' lives on FB for them, especially when they're sick. Sometimes, unfortunately, it's a matter of fundraising for medical expenses.
posted by randomkeystrike at 7:31 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

"Palliative care paediatrician"? That job title would break me.

I used to play Ultimate Frisbee with a palliative care pediatrician. She was an unwavering force of positivity and light to the point of me thinking that, if we could harness the energy inside her, we'd globally be off fossil fuels forever.

Her perspective that she was able to improve the lives of children and parents in their greatest moment of need completely revolutionized my perspective on palliative care in general. She reduces pain and sadness, which I now know is about as good as any of us can do in this world. Death is inevitable, but some incredible people in this world dedicate their lives to ensuring that we do so in as graceful and pain-free way as is possible.

I think 100% of people get absolutely floored by the job title though.
posted by notorious medium at 8:38 AM on February 2, 2018 [29 favorites]

I shared this on Facebook with the addendum “Now what the hell are you doing on FB after reading this!”

And will try to wait a couple of days before I see if anyone responded.

Moving article. I work with a fair number of kids like that but don’t get to interact with them at length and often wonder how they feel about things.
posted by TedW at 11:06 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

He surveyed several patients and none of the children, aged between four and nine, said that they wished they had watched more television, or spent more time on Facebook.

I bet they also don't say they wish they had spent more time at the office
posted by thelonius at 12:34 PM on February 2, 2018 [2 favorites]