Category — Parenting

Its still pretty early but I must say I’m very surprised that we haven’t heard much in the form of ‘parental advice.’ This probably has a lot to do with the fact that so few people actually know right now and we’re pretty tight lipped on telling random strangers (unlike my mother!).

All that said, Christine has dove waist-deep into the pregnancy books and I’m attacking the parenting books. We then discuss our findings with each other and often laugh at some of the suggestions. That being said, I did want to share with all of you some of the things that I think is important in raising our child.

Now before I go too far, I have not cleared all of these with Christine but we have always been pretty in tune with one another and I think that she’ll bless these without batting an eye.

1. Regardless of the sex of the child or our geographical location, the child will be raised as a Yankee Fan and taught to chastise all Red Sox fans. (We’re agnostic to the Tribe and realize that there is a more likely chance that we’ll move in with my parents before they actually will win a world series!)
2. Along those lines, with the exception of years like this past year in which Notre Dame failed to produce a division 1A football team, the child will be a ‘Domer.’ We’ll shower them with fantastic bedtime stories of late second heroics by Brady Quinn or inspirational morning talks in the voice of Lou Holtz!
3. (With regards to Syracuse Basketball – I imagine that by the time the child is old enough to understand the fundamentals of the game, Boeheim’s team will still be missing free throws and losing to teams from the A10. I’m not sure if subjecting a child to that agony is even allowed by law any more???)
4. Unfortunately, the world is becoming a scary place and everyone needs to be able to protect themselves. Because of that, I plan on ensuring that our child is enrolled at a very early age in nunchucks skills classes. This is really for two purposes – personal safety and if its a boy, he’ll have a much better chance with the ladies later in life because girls dig guys with nunchuck skills! Look at Napoleon Dynamite.
5. We’ve heard a lot about the importance of being able to speak multiple languages and how children are able to learn at such a young age. That being the case, we’ll definitely be exposing our children to at least one other language. I’m not sure which one would be most beneficial – many people state that either Spanish or Chinese and I can see those as being the logical plan but neither Christine nor I speak those. I’m leaning towards either Canadian or or Puerto Rican as those might be easier for us to help out with.
6. Despite its current popularity, there will be no ballroom dancing. Nothing further needs to be written on this subject.

I believe that is a pretty good start. We’ll keep the list of our ‘Parental Guidelines’ growing. We’ll also keep it public so that way you can ensure when you’re babysitting not to inadvertently confuse the child by telling them something that isn’t in line with what we’ve outlined above.

Hope all is well and till our next post…enjoy the weekend!

Baby, Parenting