Thursday, May 3, 2012

Raising NerdBabies

I am a self-proclaimed Nerd, married to a self-identified Geek.  We've got some mainstreamy aspects, but in general we're both a little march-to-your-own-drummer with leanings towards the absurd.  I like us both this way, but it's caused us both problems at one point or another.

Now we have two kids, and I have so many opportunities to influence them, to direct them gently down one path or another.  And of course I want that path to involve tiny Jedi costumes, is that so wrong?

Well, is it?  I'm trying to decide.  I know that pushing them into an activity or hobby would be wrong, but is it wrong to simply...restrict/engineer which activities they're exposed to, and encouraged to enjoy?
And is it wrong, from another angle, to encourage nerdish tendencies that can separate them from the "average" or "normal" kids?  Surely it's not wrong to encourage self-expression, but @ what point does encouraging your children to be like yourself become self-indulgent?  These are questions I'm just starting to ask myself, as my oldest child is just getting to that small-person stage where she sort of understands me.

Ah, screw it.  Tomorrow we have Star Wars pancakes for dinner.  May the Fourth be with you.

1 comment:

  1. I didn't care much about what my child was going to look like, his or her gender, and I certainly had no opinion about their future career, orientation or suchlike.

    I was convinced, however, that I was going to raise a reader. You know, like me.

    Nope. My son will tolerate trivia based non fiction about the military.

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