Parents look forward to the wonderful, magical day when their child chooses a career. Endless opportunities are narrowed down to one lifelong field, where their child can go out and make his or her mark. Mine has decided to become a megalomaniac.
While my 12-year-old son James has always had leanings in that direction, the concept of supervillainy as a potential vocation didn't arise until he started playing "Evil Genius," the game where players strive to construct the perfect island lair, defeat pesky secret agents, and take over the world.
"Dad! I just stole the Eiffel Tower!" he said last weekend while I was faithfully performing my traditional fatherly duty of not doing a large chore. In this case, it was moving a bookshelf in his room so we could paint behind it, a task that would require the stacking of books, the cleaning of shelves, and the actual physical sweaty moving part. When he spoke up I was sitting on his bed, drinking my Coke and attempting to move the bookshelf with my mind.
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Ah, if you only knew how i agonize over those things. Maybe after twenty years or so it'll get easier...
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Wow, Chris, he's learning from Pinky & the Brain?! Give him 5 cool points from me! And also tell him that if he ever needs an old(ish) advisor whom to ignore most of the time, I'd gladly offer my assistance. Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:he'd never create his own doomsday weapon if he thought he could get his mother to do it for him the night before his worldwide ultimatum was due. "Mom," he'll say. "Since you're up, could you take over the world for me? You're closer."
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Much of the dialogue in this is taken from life, and the "Mom? Could you take over the world for me?" was a direct quote from James himself when we were joking about it. If he couldn't reach the world from the living room couch, he wouldn't go get it.
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That is too funny. My son also has some half-hearted plans to take over the world. His center mostly on the buidling of robots to do his bidding.
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Oh my, Chris, this almost made me laugh loud at work ! *suppresses giggle* I sent a link to the responsible of orientation of the school I work in. He may have advices for you Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I'd also like to thank you for the parenting tips. I see now that actually DOING the chores might cause one to miss important parenting opportunities -- those little moments one can only cherish silently. Or turn into wonderful fodder for ones weekly column.
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Doing chores causes you to miss all sort of important milestones in the life of your family, like first steps and important discoveries and tragic, family-bonding emergencies caused by tripping over unfinished chores.
Also, it throws my nap schedule completely off.
I find that most housework, if ignored properly, reaches a certain level of incompleteness after a year or two after which it will never get any worse. If this is a level you're prepared to accept, vast vistas of free time will be open to you that you can then use to travel the world and stay at places where other people clean up.
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quote: I find that most housework, if ignored properly, reaches a certain level of incompleteness after a year or two after which it will never get any worse. If this is a level you're prepared to accept, vast vistas of free time will be open to you that you can then use to travel the world and stay at places where other people clean up.
I am SO stealing this for personal use. Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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There's also the wardrobe mulching process that can be seen when, in desperation, you reach under a massive pile of dirty clothes to find clothes that have been relatively cleaned from the heat and pressure. Some flattening out with the palm of your hand and a quick spritz of deodorant and you're clad for another day.
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And also tell him that if he ever needs an old(ish) advisor whom to ignore most of the time, I'd gladly offer my assistance. ![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
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