How cheery - why don't we just kill ourselves now. Or at the very least, start thinking and acting exactly alike (seeing as individuality don't matter).

What he means is, fear of being the same borders on the irrational. You could call it Homophobia.

What's that have to do with having kids? Sure, they can survive, but I won't. I don't understand how DNA achieved self-sentience and realized that it can live forever. It's just using me is a mortal vehicle for its own immortality. Selfish bugger. But, I get my revenge: the genes stop here! *stomps foot*

Congratulations on the new grandchild, Yasgur!!

So I take it your not big on that whole "love" thing.

I'd like to have 3 sons, I need heirs to carry on my bloodline (it's got this far, I wouldn't want to be the one to put an end to my family) and 3 seems like a safe number.

I have one kid at the moment. He's almost five (his birthday is at the end of April) and he's a great little critter. Last week he started making real progress sounding out words and today he absolutely knocked my socks off by pointing out a bunch of words that ended with E and telling me which ones were silent and which weren't.

Not that it's all 'proud pappy' moments as one of my co-workers called them. He took ages to be potty trained in part because he initially refused to go near a toilet.

I'd also like to have a daughter at some point but for now our hands are full with one kid!

No kids yet. Not married yet. Maybe someday, though.

I dunno, it's not so much that I fear being the same. Actually, I think a great deal of the world fears to be different - that's why so many people want kids for no particular rational reason. They want kids just because they think it's what they're expected to do. Because they think the childless are seen by society with suspicion, and they are just too afraid to face that in life.

Hell, a major Australian female public figure was once publicly accused of being "Barren, hence unfit to lead". And smear campaigns have been speculating on her supposed lisbianism, witchery, satanism etc for years. All because she chose not to have children!

Is it any wonder that people are uncomfortable with the thought of going against the pack? Afraid, even? Why face all that? It seems so much easier to just make babies and be accepted. I think that fear of not being accepted is a driving force behind many people's parenthood choices.

Of course, you can go completely in the opposite direction, but your lack of unique attributes shouldn't be a cause for despair.

:wub:

And what are you going to do if you have trouble getting the magic number of boys and have all sorts of girls? Start lopping off heads ala Henry VIII?

Thankfully a bloodline can be equally preserved by daughters

Daughter (32), Son (30), Grandson (4), Grandson (1.5), and another grandchild due in June.
Getting married and having children was the best thing I ever did.
Don't see how it's selfish to have kids or not to have them.
Considering the time and effort required to do a good job of parenting, 'selfless' seems a more appropriate word. Again not saying there is anything wrong with not having kids.

PS: In raising our kids my wife and I found http://www.amazon.com/Children-Challenge-Improving-Parent-Child-Relations-Intelligent/dp/0452266556/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270084539&sr=1-1 to be very helpful.

@ Rhekarid below: Haha, I hadn't even thought about that, I think it must have been some sub-conscience similarity from playing too much ES.

I hate to ruin the dream, but I don't think you're the one holding back the gates of oblivion.

Yeah, I'd like at least one son, to keep the family name.

Four months older than my critter -yes, he's all teeth, and loves brushing them
now he's starting to focus on the words underneath the pictures in his "Encyclopedia for Kids", and wants to know everything about everything. :ahhh:
Potty training was funny. He refused because diapers sat better :shrug: and from one day to the next only wanted undies and potty.
I think because his GF at the nursery was also into undies and he couldn't stay behind
He has some difficulty listening.. gee, didn't see that one coming :facepalm:

Mostly I bargain with DVD/cartoon time, which atm is working, still.

And I know more intimate details about Spongebob squarepants and Pokimon than I ever dreamed of knowing before he was born :blink:
:lmao:

Not to mention that bloodlines (and blood relations) are meaningless anyway. Which is part of why the concept of 'family' is irrational, let alone the concept of descendency. My ancestors and/or descendents (if I have any) are no more meaningful or valuable than any other human being.

In 100 years time, maybe some people will have blood traceable to me, or maybe no-one will. Either way it's meaningless, they're all just people in the end. :shrug: The idea that the sharing of blood dictates we should value some people more than others holds no water.

Nope, there aren't any kids that I'm responsible for. I wouldn't mind having kids,.....



but, I'm the 'old fashioned' type and would rather have a wife first (or at least be in a serious relationship with a woman). Since that's fairly certain not to happen, I guess that I'll never have kids. :shrug: Oh well, I've got lots of relatives who keep popping kids out.


*

Yeah, we didn't make much headway with potty training until he started daycare and other kids were doing it. There are also all sorts of foods he happily eats at daycare with his friends that he won't touch at home - I guess peer pressure can be useful after all!

We eventually got "potty presents" which were inexpensive toys with a few nicer ones added to get it going. Thankfully this stark bribery hasn't seemed to do any lasting damage.

I do wish he'd brush his teeth more though. We've had some luck moving him to strawberry toothpaste but he's hardly enthusiastic.


That's because you don't have family members with wikipedia pages! :hehe:


While concepts of "family" and "relations" are cultural constructs I think there are positives to knowing your bloodline. Being aware of potential health hazards would be at the top of my list.

It seems like raising kids would be a lot of hard work. And then when they're teens I bet it gets a lot harder.

I can speak to that; it gets easier in some ways and harder in others. You're freed of having to supervise them all the time and transport them everywhere; on the other hand, the trouble they can get into can be a lot harder to get them out of. One can drive you crazy by doing assignments and then forgetting to turn them in; the next one can drive you crazy by knowing exactly what matters to you and then being stubborn about that and only that.

Never pray for "special" children. All deities have a warped sense of humor and will grant your prayer. We got three http://images.ucomics.com/images/amuniversal/press_release/frazz.png.

Wow. That sure looks like Calvin & Hobbes.