A few words on parenting.

[kickaha]

Tonight, ginkgo and I babysat for some friends - it was their first night out after the birth, and we were thrilled to do it. Little N is just the sweetest thing - a truly happy little girl, and absolutely a breeze to take care of.

It was also my first time of taking care of an infant. Whee!

Then, later in the evening, another couple we know asked us if, in the event of anything happening to them, if we would take legal guardianship of their son. I'm so completely honored to be even considered for such a thing, I don't know where to begin.

Yes I do.




WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL YOU PEOPLE?!? I'm stunned anyone would want me to babysit their kids to begin with, let alone raising them! I barely survived childhood as it was! I do crazy things! I like blowing crap up! I make jokes about duct taping kids to the wall to keep them in place! I still think dirt is highly underrated as a foodstuff! I think model rockets are age 3 and up, if only because any younger, and they might carried off by it after they glue their hand to the fuselage!

Has the world gone crazy?!? Since when did I become someone to trust kids with?

OTOH, when I mentioned this to ginkgo earlier tonight, with "I'd be as likely to blow a kid up as anything else" she responded with "Yes, but they'd know *why* they blew up."

I guess that's something.

Comments

[lovecraftcomplex]

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL YOU PEOPLE?!? I'm stunned anyone would want me to babysit their kids to begin with, let alone raising them! I barely survived childhood as it was! I do crazy things! I like blowing crap up! I make jokes about duct taping kids to the wall to keep them in place! I still think dirt is highly underrated as a foodstuff! I think model rockets are age 3 and up, if only because any younger, and they might carried off by it after they glue their hand to the fuselage!

Funny, all of that is true of me as well, and I always thought that made for perfect Dad qualifications.

A ship is safe in the harbor.

[treebyleaf.livejournal.com]

My Uncle Sidney was a Dennis the Menace, cherry-bomb-hoarding, dare-devil, flippant, practical-joking, rebel-without-a-clue.

And my Grandpa kept the household gun in an unlocked bedside table.

You know what happened in this situation? NOTHING.

Nothing happened, because my Uncle Sidney grew up on playgrounds that had slides and monkey bars and other equipment that a kid could really get hurt on if he wasn't thinking. He grew up with broken teeth and broken bones. He knew pain. He knew cause and effect. He knew there were things worse than getting caught. He knew that gun was one of those things.

The modern fashionable preference for "parenting" a consumerist hobby in which one lavishes attention and toys on a highly controlled indoor pet instead of "child-rearing" the adventure of guiding a rapidly changing creature to self-sufficiency of mind, body, and soul has nothing to do with your suitability as a parent.

That said, let me recommend _Why Don't You Have Kids?_ (out of print, fron your library) for you and anyone else wanting to consider both the pros and the cons of having their own children.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I barely survived childhood as it was! I do crazy things! I like blowing crap up! I make jokes about duct taping kids to the wall to keep them in place! I still think dirt is highly underrated as a foodstuff! I think model rockets are age 3 and up, if only because any younger, and they might carried off by it after they glue their hand to the fuselage!

All of that is true of George, and he's turned out to be a very good father. :) (I keep telling people, Liam likes to be carried around by the back of his overalls.)

That's pretty cool, though -- I bet you'd do a great job.

[lirrin.livejournal.com]

All of that could be said of Todd as well, and he's good with kids and will make a good father. I fear coming home and seeing the giant hole in the garage ceiling one day, or finding that they've shaved the cat for some reason, but...we'll blow up that bridge when we come to it. Maybe that's my attitude because I have some of the same. ;-) "It's just dirt...full of minerals, that is."

I think you'd do a great job too.