parenting_ish

I'm not pregnant. I thought I would get that out of the way before I write a parenting blog post. Also, I think more about parenting than I do about dating. I major in putting the cart before the horse.

There's something that I want to work on doing now, as a favor to any future kids I might give birth to or raise. And this thing does not rank high on the list of things you can do to screw up your kid.

I want to work on having an open mind toward ideas that I think are dumb, dangerous, or have never heard of before.

I have hung out with high schoolers before who feel so misunderstood by their parents. It's painful to watch. The kid is trying to figure out their identity by trying out different things and the parent (it seems to me) is kind of flabbergasted and resigns to saying "whatever, let me know when you've grown up."

Letting people I love change for (what seems to me as) the worse is one of my serious weaknesses. I can't handle it, I freak out. In the end, the whole thing is not worth the emotional energy I spend on it, because God loves them more than I do anyway and me freaking out about it doesn't help anything.

I don't know how I can go about trying to grow in this area, but I am seriously looking into it.

Outside Target this afternoon:

I feel like this needs no comment.

My So-Called Quarterlife Crisis

My parents used to watch the show 'My So-Called Life.' They wouldn't let me watch it because I was too young. My parents have always picked the most random shows as 'their' shows. From what I can remember, they have been: ER (until after George Clooney left, my mom had a crush), Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, and 24. Of course, 'My So-Called Life' being outside the boundaries of what they would let me watch, it has always held an appeal for me.

Well, now they have it on ABC.com (here). The first two episodes, anyways. It is a good show. The writing is fantastic, and Claire Danes rocks my face. They talk about amazing things. I wish I could have been friends with her in high school or be a youth leader and work with her now. She's brilliant.

Looking around Slate.com today, a video started playing that talked about the new online-only mini-drama called 'Quarterlife Crisis'. Apparently it's from the creators of 'My So-Called Life.' The quarterlife crisis is an interesting idea in of itself. People freaking out at age 25 (or younger, I guess, it's right after you stop school, so 22? or 18?) about all the choices ahead and how they are going to get a house that looks like their parents'. My favorite book on choice in today's global society is The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz which talks about how as humans we can't deal with infinite choice. We need boundaries on our possibilities. It's great, skim it.

But don't look up the webisodal 'Quarterlife Crisis.' It looks like it sucks. But do look up this Current video on the crisis, it's interesting: 'The Quarterlife Crisis'