NEED to get your elderly father out of your immediate vicinity? Try out these phrases and watch him instantly remember something he needed from the kitchen:
Heavy flow
Commenting on your flow or even anything vaguely related to periods will immediately get your dad moving towards the door. Throw in that it has been particularly heavy, however, and he will be gone faster than you can say ‘super plus ultra absorbency’.
Pelvic floor
Your dad doesn’t even know what a pelvic floor is, just that it’s somewhere in the vicinity of ‘down there’ and women talk mysteriously about how it ‘goes’ and they need to do exercises to strengthen it. It’s best ignored, which he can achieve by going out into the garden for three hours.
Discharge
He isn’t entirely sure what this is, but he is sure that he doesn’t want to find out. This word sends him into such a panic that even if you were using it in the context of someone firing a gun he will immediately leg it.
Difficult labour
You were born in the days before men were routinely present in the labour ward, so hearing phrases like ‘cervix dilation’, ‘afterbirth’ and ‘forceps’ are too much for his delicate ears. In fact, as soon as you mention waters breaking he’ll be in the kitchen with 5 Live on at a deafening volume.
Hot flushes
Hot flushes in themselves sound harmless but it’s the other stuff that comes with it that freaks him out. Discuss the menopause enough and your dad will even take up a new hobby to keep him away from the house for weeks, purely out of fear that the situation will escalate to mention of ‘dryness’.
