Wouldn’t we rather be children again, living with our parents?
Parental homes, like many other places, may be good to visit, but you certainly wouldn’t want to live there.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• If we live long enough, we will be merry children again.
RM Fransson, Wheat Ridge, Colorado, US
• No way! They wouldn’t let me have a mobile phone or iPad.
Marilyn Hamilton, Perth, Western Australia
• No. Our parents are of an age where they’d rather like to live with us.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• And you really thought that your parents sold up house and embarked on a 20-year circumnavigation of the globe simply for pleasure?
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• Sure, but would “we” still be “we”?
John Geffroy, Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
• No. They wouldn’t be able to afford it.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Depends on which version of my parents. On last viewing, I’ll give it a miss, thanks!
John Benseman, Auckland, New Zealand
• No, but occasionally I’d like to be a parent living with my children again, as I miss them lots now that they have flown the nest!
Margaret Wilkes, Perth, Western Australia
• Not if our parents were children who were living with our grandparents.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• Exchange choice, sex and knowledge for security, playdates and fairytales? No thanks!
Charlie Pearson, Portland, Oregon, US
If you are all in the same club
Do people who believe in an afterlife behave better towards others?
Only the true adherents to a faith.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• On the evidence stemming from both the Middle East and North America, the answer clearly is: NO!
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• Nearly always, if those others belong to the same club.
Rhys Winterburn, Perth, Western Australia
• In a word – No.
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• No. As it is one’s upbringing that ultimately determines how one behave towards others.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
Treasure is all around us
Do childhood thrills like riding escalators wear off?
If you have lost the thrill I urge you to find it again. I get a shiver of excitement when I see the blue flash of a kingfisher, when I climb a tree, when I breathe deeply from a garden flower. There’s treasure everywhere.
Leo du Feu, Burntisland, UK
• When no one is about I sometimes run a stick or my finger along a wire-mesh fence.
M Stephens, Perth, Western Australia
• No, as adults my twin brother and I still get a thrill going on the scariest fun fair rides.
Jenefer Warwick James, Paddington, NSW, Australia
• Escalators may be quite thrilling later in life if you didn’t use them growing up. I think it’s routine that kills the thrills.
Robert White, Sutton, UK
• Yes, I took up parachute jumping instead.
Peter Stone, Paddington, NSW, Australia
Any answers?
What most useful skill could be acquired and serve well when carried into old age?
William Emigh, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
When does opinion qualify as news?
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
Send answers and more questions to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
