Best Geeky Dad I Can Be
As a kid I always wondered what I would be like as a parent. I always wanted to be the cool dad, the one who's kid got upset because their friends always wanted to hang at their house. The dad who watched the same shows as them, and listened to their music, and new all the cool things. Then as I got older and realized I was never cool to begin with, I decided to change my approach to it. What is the point of being the cool dad anyways? Most the kids with cool dads hated their dads and would rather be at anyone else's house. That's not even close to what I want with my kids so I had to rethink the whole thing.
Now that I have children, I can see where it would be really easy to just give in and be the cool dad. Life would be so much easier if I was just their friend rather than their parent. However, I want me children to grow up with a health sense of right and wrong, and in my opinion you can't do that by being their best friend. Best friend dad doesn't come they are older and I am no longer responsible for them. For now though, I need to walk that line where I make sure I am the parent, but I also make sure we have fun together. I do most of that by introducing them to the things that I am interested in, age appropriate of course.
The first thing that I introduced them to was cartoons from my childhood so see what they thought. Things like Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers, or Darkwing Duck, and even Magic School Bus and Digimon: Digital Monsters. Then they started asking for more shows like those and out came Pokemon, Voltron, and live action fun like Power Rangers. We watched movies like The Cat From Outer Space, Batteries Not Included, Short Circuit, The Last Star Fighter, The Princess Bride, and Star Wars. As they get older I've introduced different ones to TV shows like Star Trek, Stargate, Doctor Who, 4400, and Charmed.
We go on walks and imagine we are exploring distant planets for the first time. We have races where we are pod racers and we must win our freedom. We build forts and tell stories about the crazy things we've done in our dreams. We go camping and pretend we are adventures out discovering a new homeland for our people. We go on long car rides and pretend the cars behind are bad guys chasing us so we must find a way to get away or make their cars no longer bad.
I am trying hard to use the geekiness to teach my children love and understanding, to instill in them a sense of awe in the world and a want to learn more, to give them an appreciation for art and fiction, and to help them explore their imagination to it's fullest. Because when you look at the top self made millionaires and billionaires in this world, so very many of them were nerds who used the imagination to think of a way to make the world a better place, and then got rich off it. I just want them to know enjoy life to it's fullest like I do, but hey, maybe that's just the Bloodwine Talking.
Now that I have children, I can see where it would be really easy to just give in and be the cool dad. Life would be so much easier if I was just their friend rather than their parent. However, I want me children to grow up with a health sense of right and wrong, and in my opinion you can't do that by being their best friend. Best friend dad doesn't come they are older and I am no longer responsible for them. For now though, I need to walk that line where I make sure I am the parent, but I also make sure we have fun together. I do most of that by introducing them to the things that I am interested in, age appropriate of course.
The first thing that I introduced them to was cartoons from my childhood so see what they thought. Things like Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers, or Darkwing Duck, and even Magic School Bus and Digimon: Digital Monsters. Then they started asking for more shows like those and out came Pokemon, Voltron, and live action fun like Power Rangers. We watched movies like The Cat From Outer Space, Batteries Not Included, Short Circuit, The Last Star Fighter, The Princess Bride, and Star Wars. As they get older I've introduced different ones to TV shows like Star Trek, Stargate, Doctor Who, 4400, and Charmed.
We go on walks and imagine we are exploring distant planets for the first time. We have races where we are pod racers and we must win our freedom. We build forts and tell stories about the crazy things we've done in our dreams. We go camping and pretend we are adventures out discovering a new homeland for our people. We go on long car rides and pretend the cars behind are bad guys chasing us so we must find a way to get away or make their cars no longer bad.
I am trying hard to use the geekiness to teach my children love and understanding, to instill in them a sense of awe in the world and a want to learn more, to give them an appreciation for art and fiction, and to help them explore their imagination to it's fullest. Because when you look at the top self made millionaires and billionaires in this world, so very many of them were nerds who used the imagination to think of a way to make the world a better place, and then got rich off it. I just want them to know enjoy life to it's fullest like I do, but hey, maybe that's just the Bloodwine Talking.
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