Is It Bad If We Turn Our Son Into Us?!

Since getting married and even more since getting pregnant I often have wondered what our kids would be like.  Would they look more like me, more like Terry, like the both of us or like neither of us?  Would they be funny, smart, athletic, or clumsy (my guess is clumsy as T.’s nickname as a kid was bumper and mine was grace because I wasn’t graceful).  Would they be into music like Terry or art like me or something completely different?

I also have wondered how will T & I influence any children we have.  You want your children to grow up and have their own sense of self; however you can’t help but place your own interests/likes on them from even an early age. 

“Yes baby Henry, you will listen to the Metallica and Pink Floyd Rockabye Baby CD’s….why, because WE like them!  You will also watch Dr. Who and other Sci-Fi programs with us and will most likely watch the History channel and cartoons with your father.  And don’t think for a moment your dad is not going to teach the importance of silver and coin collecting at a very early age and drag BOTH of us to the antique mall for a Saturday afternoon.  And as I am a lover of craft projects, you will have to endure your fair amount of homemade craft projects with me and even homemade Halloween costumes.  Sorry child, but that is just how it is going to be. Oh and P.S. my child….your parents are weird, so you will need to get use to that too.”

There is this fine line we will have to learn over time about what is natural for them to take from us and what is being pushy.  Where do we stop and they start in helping them to achieve their OWN identity and not feel like they have to take on ours or even others that they are around. And what role as parents should we play in encouraging this personal development.  (Yes, these are things I have been thinking about lately when I am sitting on the couch watching the Real Housewives of Orange County.) 

I am sure we will deal with that when the time comes but for now, since Baby Hank does not have a sense of self and can’t make his own decisions by using his big boy words, we are just going to have to help him along a bit!

So what does that mean for our little guy, besides obviously having to sit through the things I mentioned above?  It means we are going to decorate his room with things we love in hopes it will rub off on him a bit!  

So the first edition to his room will also be his first stuffed animal…

….12" Godzilla!  Terry LOVES Godzilla and watches Godzilla movies all the time.  He wanted Henry’s first toy to be a Godzilla doll.  So I am ordering that today for the babes. 

I also had the idea of taking old 45 record albums (you know those things made out of vinyl that play music on that large turntable thingy) and in the center of each I would create a label with the letters of his name.  So he would have 5 records hanging above his bed that spell out Henry and then one on either side ones with his foot prints and hand prints.  It also means, he will have his very own record player in his room as we have like 5.  

There will also be some crocheted items and drawings that I want to create for him....but still not sure exactly what I want to do.

And finally, it means there is a very good chance he will have a dalek nightlight/clock in his bedroom.  In particular, this one.

Yes, his room is going to be a hodge-podge of things WE like.

I am sure there are going to be many many other things that T & I LOVE that we will try to force pass down to our son.  Some day we will have to back off and let him decided on his own what he likes and doesn’t (though T & I are SO flipp'n cool, why wouldn't he want to be like us)….but that will not be happening anytime soon, so until it does you can pretty much count on us surrounding our son with things WE like in hopes that Henry will be a mini-version of his daddy with a hint of his mommy.  And I am SO ok with that!