Headed for greatness. Or prison.

Back when I was still pregnant, G and I were sitting in a restaurant and observing the swathes of children around us. He made an observation about one family, saying that their children were super calm and well-behaved and he wanted ours to turn out that way. Given the gene pool (G's parents had a child soon after him because "surely God wouldn't curse them twice.") it didn't seem likely. I figured odds were that we would have a spirited youngster but I also sort of wanted one. It was then that I performed perhaps the greatest jinx of my life. I said, "Well-behaved children are boring. They have no will and no spunk and they turn out to be boring adults. I hope our kid at least causes some trouble."

Oops.

I still think that, to an extent. I think some (but not all!!!) traits that make life difficult for parents turn out to serve the child well in adulthood. Being independent, strong willed, and questioning authority are great past the age of 18, right? I want B to grow up to think for himself, to not automatically conform, to question things that he thinks are wrong and to try to fix them. I want him to be a leader and bring people along with him when he tries to fix the wrongs in the world etc.

I realized I was wishing my life to be harder at the time but the reality of that statement will surely continue to hit me over time as it appears all of my wishes are going to come true. As an adult, I hope he works for more than just a paycheck, finds something he believes in, and inspires others to get behind him. Perhaps he could start a non-profit to fight world hunger or fight for women's rights in third world countries? Then he would spread the good word of his cause and everyone would want to work for this charismatic visionary.

"Mr. Bear, that bow makes you look stupid. What do we want? No more stupid neck bows! When do we want it? Now!"

The toddler version of my vision, I'm realizing, goes something more like this. B believes that naptime is wrong. If he was tired he would go to sleep! He doesn't need to be told when to sleep and dominated in this authoritarian fashion. B would then organize all the little rebels at pre-school and get them behind his cause. He would convince them to do something spirited and forward leaning, yet really annoying, like all pee their beds at the start of naptime as a silent protest against the teachers. Then I would receive a strongly worded letter from school and G and I would have to do a little parental dance. We would have to tell him that as of today he needs to respect authority and there are rules that he has to follow even if he feels they are wrong. One day, however, if you see things that are wrong it will be ok to fight them. Umm? I probably need to work on that speech before the time comes. All indication is that the time will come.

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