Raising A Geek Child – Part 2
As I mentioned yesterday, my five-year old daughter’s personality has slowly been asserting itself, it has become painfully obvious that her interests were in the same geek activities that I was (and… still am)into. Batman comic books, Lego building blocks, Nintendo; and then the final straw…
The final event that made me sure she was heading down the road to Geekdom, occurred a week ago. I was watching an episode of Doctor Who (season 5, The Time of Angels) and she came in the room during a relatively frightening part. I apologized and paused the show. I told her I would watch it later, when she wasn’t around because it had some scary parts. That was probably my mistake, she loves being scared, she loves “scary movies” and Halloween. So I relented and we finished the episode, which was part one of two. When it was over, I turned off the television so we could go on with our day. She immediately looked at me, and wondered what happened, she wanted to know how it ended. So we watched the next episode (Flesh and Stone), she was happy to find out the result, and assured me that it wasn’t really that scary. The monsters weren’t real she said. I figured it was a one time incident, until I came home from band practice the next day to find that she had talked her mom into watching the next episode of Doctor Who. She was apparently “addicted” to The Doctor. I think that really says a lot about the shows writing, and Matt Smith’s portrayal of the character, but anyway.
Sure, when you realize your child has some of the same interests as you, it’s flattering, and fun. I had one of those, movie like, day-dreams where I imagine her growing up and us going to our LCS together, enjoying Doctor Who and making fun of George Lucas’ film making decisions. Then I imagined having to budget in her comic books to my weekly stipend. What if there was a movie I didn’t want, but she still needed the Director’s Cut/Special Edition/Box Set? If we go to a comic book convention, will I have to miss a Grant Morrison appearance so she can see early footage from the newest Spiderman movie (damn you Andrew Garfield)? Worst of all, what if, like me, she discovers and enjoys Transmetropolitan? I don’t know if I can handle these things. Could you? Do you?
