David O'Mahony: Take your leads from literature to help answer your child’s life questions

My daughter had no trouble picking up the message that being different is, in fact, good, and how important it is to use your gifts to try to make things better, even if it’s hard

Elphaba fro hit musical Wicked is a role model who shows that being different is, in fact, good. Picture: Kristian Dowling/Getty Images

BEING a parent is hard, and anybody who says otherwise either has staff or is straight up lying to your face, which is terribly rude when you think of it. Down with that sort of thing.

You can only do your best. Ultimately all you want to do is raise your kids in a way that they can defy gravity like Wicked’s Elphaba and soar off to make their own mark on the world while retaining the kernel of their very own character. You lead by example, you encourage, you cajole, sometimes you just have to be stubborn, usually when there’s been so much heel-dragging that now everybody is slightly late going out the door for the school run.