Monday, January 21, 2019

Ways our child might rebel

Hello Sistren! The fetus is still cooking in my uterus, and is making herself known a LOT these days. I imagine she's possibly perfecting her dance moves, practicing punching Nazis, or just asserting her Strong Leadership Skills by reminding me who's really in charge around here. As The Librarian and I have been talking a lot about future parenting, one thing we've postulated about is how our child might rebel or otherwise assert that she is different from her totally dorky moms. Here's a short list of how that might happen, in no particular order. Hoping our offspring doesn't find this list and use it for #inspo as she enters her teen years. Not all of these are bad; some are things we'd have to phone a friend in if the kid wants support in her interests of which we have no clue.

Speaking of which, I am SO excited to embarrass a teenager! I will be so good at it! Making a mental list of things that will cause her to roll her eyes- feel free to offer your own suggestions! But that's a list for another day.

Ways our Child Might Rebel/ Distinguish herself from her Totally Uncool Moms

  1. Become a rabid Republican. This would seriously be the worst. We of course plan on taking her to marches (and she has march-ready onesies that say "Abolish ICE" and "The Future is Female") and talking to her about the dangers of claiming to be "socially liberal but fiscally conservative" (thank u, next) so this would be a great way for her to stab her moms in our lefty hearts. If she starts talking about states rights (note, her becoming a Libertarian would be just as bad), keeping people out of our borders in case they take our jobs, or that the woman's place is in the home, we will start researching de-programmers in our area.
  2. Turn into a Hey Ladies!!! type. The Librarian recently discovered the hilarious Hey Ladies!!! series from The Toast (we miss you!) and got the e-book and it is so funny. But also sad as apparently some people are really like this. But what if our child thinks this is normal and acceptable behavior to aspire too? How do we prevent this? Do we go reverse psychology? Do we try to find a hippy school to send her to (but not too hippy-ish in case she becomes a CaitlinYourLife type)? Please advise.
  3. Be a jock. Because the fetus is so active all the time we're afraid she might be a jock. And that's fine, but just way out of the realm of our nerdy experience. Because we are from (or at least met) in the great state of North Carolina, we can teach her how to shit talk at basketball games like nobody's business. But play sports ball? Way outside of our skill set. However, if she does play sports ball, I am ready to start the plan for embarrassing our teen by making great mom signs and yelling at her games! That could be awesome.
  4. Hate reading. Since reading is important to both of our professions, we already have a bookshelf or two started for the kid! And an Amazon wish list! Buying books for her is super fun. But what if she decides reading is terrible? Or stays illiterate on purpose as form of rebellion? And then this leads to our number one fear! (See number 1). Let's hope not.
  5. Really, really love gender roles. Our baby stuff is very non-pink, non-ruffly, and there are no giant hairbows the size of an adult's head in her future. What is up with those? Maybe our child will decide later that she's really mad we deprived her of this heteronormative opportunity and start wearing all pink lace or something. And want to wear makeup (we will really have to phone a friend in here, I haven't worn makeup since my first semester of college). She can do/wear whatever she wants, we're just hoping she doesn't decide to use clothing as a way to flaunt values of (see #1 above) what some folks think a girl should be. 
  6. Have terrible taste in dudes like Rory Gilmore. This one came from The Librarian as I had on some Gilmore Girls and Rory (season 4) was about to go on a date with Trevor. What if our kid is straight, and has terrible taste in boys like Rory does the entire series? I mean first round Dean was fine for a high school boyfriend and all, but other than that, yuck. Especially as Paris was the CLEAR choice. But anyway, what if she insists on dating dudes who are douche-bro, whiny, asshats? What are two moms to do?
Anyway Sistren, this is our list! What are your parenting fears?