Children

jenks

thread death
My sons have now got to the age where I ask them things - they have knowledge and skills that i don't have and would never even know how to have. No2 is a massive politics nut but also follows all the news and basically tells me what i need to know about what the latest lockdown rules are (and what can go in the recycle bin - constant bugbear of his) No1 can actually build and fix bikes which i am totally in awe of (there's also his maths which is just inexplicable to me). They are both far more organised than i ever was and they are much more liberal than their mum - they are forever explaining to my radical feminist wife why she 'can't say that' - I put nearly everything down to them, i just tried not to fuck things up too much. I still love beating them on University Challenge which i make them watch when they are home
 

sus

Well-known member
It's very odd, my mum too—University of California feminist in the late 70s/early 80s, didn't shave her body hair, lived in a vegan co-op, rallies against racism, etc. Nowadays she's very confused, it all "seems like a lot," she isn't sure what to think, etc.
 

sus

Well-known member
She had boys too, one of whom went off to college around the same time as the press was circulating some high-profile sexual assault allegations on college campuses, which later turned out to be false. It's interesting cuz I think the dynamic talked about on previous pages, how your center of meaning and value shifts so that you care about your child more than yourself—that messes with your politics too. Suddenly you see things from your boys' eyes, yr radfem mom is going, "I can't believe they expelled those fraternity brothers without any evidence on a he-said she-said." I've no interest in wading into the topic in the object-level, politics is for perverts, but I think this is an interesting shift—see also those fratty philanderer guys who have a daughter, suddenly become card-carrying feminists.
 

DannyL

Wild Horses
It's very odd, my mum too—University of California feminist in the late 70s/early 80s, didn't shave her body hair, lived in a vegan co-op, rallies against racism, etc. Nowadays she's very confused, it all "seems like a lot," she isn't sure what to think, etc.
A lot of second wave feminists are wrong footed by trans issues. Not saying your mum especially but it's a useful example.
 

Dusty

Tone deaf
It's such a cliché but I feel like I made my own best friend. I'm sure he will come to hate me and rebel when he's older but right now, at 3 years old we have a hell of a lot of fun together. He's definitely made the last year of lockdowns and viral fear more tolerable and less lonely.

I never really thought about kids until I was in my 30's.

The debate now is if we have another. The first birth was pretty terrible for my partners health and did a lot of damage, which puts us off a bit.
 

luka

Well-known member
The plot-lines vary, but are always bizarre, revolving around Buster's outstanding physical attributes being a blessing or a curse. For example, in one episode Buster climbs a tree whereupon some children standing below mistake his hairy scrotum for giant horse chestnuts, deciding to pelt it with sticks and stones in order to knock it down so they can play conkers. Moments later, a passing farmer attempts to help the children by blasting the "horse chestnuts" with his double-barrelled shotgun. Finally, an endangered species of bird decides to build a nest on Buster's scrotum and lays eggs in it. It is illegal to disturb the rare bird's nest, so poor Buster is forced to stay up the tree for the next few weeks until the eggs hatch and the fledglings have left the nest.
 

Dusty

Tone deaf
This is a popular children's character in England, Buster Gonad, the boy with unfeasibly large testicles.
I'm not sure I'd class Viz as popular childrens literature!

Maybe that's more about my own sheltered upbringing, where scoring a copy of the Beano was as edgey as it was ever going to get.
 

sus

Well-known member
I reckon kids are only expensive if you want em to be

I'd feed my kid gruel. Builds character! "SpendyDad lemme do sports!" Alright kid we're signing you up for track 'n' field, here's a stopwatch go run around the block.
 

sus

Well-known member
Make sure they know how to pirate at age 4 so they're not goin around bothering me asking for an iTunes giftcard or somethin. Madness.
 

Dusty

Tone deaf
Showing my colours here, but another reason we are weighing up having a second child is that if we stick to just the one we can afford to send him to a private school. No chance of sending two, even with a sibling discount.

Both of us are from state school backgrounds, and I never thought I'd consider a private school for my offspring. But now he's actually here... and now I see the ratings (and modern class sizes) of our local state schools, I've turned to the dark side.

Visiting a local private school, it reminded me of my time in a small country village with a class size of 10, and I realise its not the private school education I want as much as the throwback to a happy past I had, one that's been crushed in a system dominated by budget cuts.

Aside from that he's been very cheap to run. Lots of second hand toys and hand-me-down clothes from friends. Eats us out of house and home though.
 

Leo

Well-known member
wonder how parents here are explaining last week's siege of the Capitol Building to their children.
 

luka

Well-known member
Depends on the parents of course but I remember as a child the only thing about politics I could be sure of was that Thatcher was an evil witch who had put a curse in the land.
 
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