Ali came rushing down the stairs this morning, calling out "MUM! MUM!" She was very distressed to hear about the death of Mark Speight, the children's tv presenter. At 18 and a half she is no longer, technically, a child but she has grown up with Smart on the BBC, and she met the man himself when her primary school was invited to the filming of "Timmy Towers," at the Maidstone Studios about 9 years ago.

Later in the day I heard Jeremy Vine on the radio suggesting that there might be a way to "cushion" children who might have been "fond of" Mark although, in my opinion, death is a part of life which everyone must, ultimately, embrace. It is also, for most people, the thing most feared. My own belief is that life is eternal, but broken into chunks by our bodies. I believe in reincarnation, I believe that in dying we return to our "Source," but I also believe that life is a gift that we should nurture, cherish and live to the full.

It appears that this TV presenter may have given up on his own life following the death of his fiance at the end of a night of drugs and drink. At the moment it appears to be suicide, his body being found at Paddington Station this morning. Maybe, just maybe, this whole sad episode is a gift to the children who were his fans; the perils of substance misuse are widely known but conveniently forgotten. This may highlight to the children the possible outcome of this type of lifestyle. My heart goes out to Mark's family and friends, as losing a loved one is never easy. And yet it is a cautionary tale to the young.

I will urge Ali and her sisters to remember the man for his cheery disposition, his artistic talent, but to remember that certain lifestyles are not glamorous or healthy. They will not be cushioned, just as they were not when a relative of ours died, and when our cat was run over. There are ways of helping them face the grief, but not of shielding them from the truth.

What has been preying on my mind is a programme I saw some of last week about parents who live in terror of catastrophe and how this affects their children. The media constructs a view of the world as dangerous, so much so that kids hardly venture out of doors. Nature, our greatest healer, is dirty and germ-ridden.
Teenagers may as well be scary monsters. Some parents would prefer their children inside watching TV or playing video games than out in the fresh air.

Who is perpetrating this?
Why is it being done?

It may be that the human race is willingly, and easily, controlled if it prefers to stay inside and isolated. We Bloggers form close and valuable relationships, it is true, but would our physical communities be flourishing more if we were out and about in them, rather than indoors and online?

I try to teach my children balance, and to find the gifts, wherever they are. Today, one is at the theatre, one is in the country, one is with relatives, one with friends, one on the PC and one is watching a film. One has gone off for a snooze, and I am writing this before I cook for whoever turns up at tea time. I've seen the sea and marvelled at the sky....

We have no time for cotton wool; life is for living, for loving, for learning, for enjoying- every bit of it!