The Bipolar Mommy

Batteries and Birthdays (It’s not what you think!)

Today, Mark and I went to my mom’s house for my nephew’s birthday shindig. Cameron’s birthday was actually a week and a half ago; however, birthdays never seem to end for my niece and nephews. Anyway, Cameron got a Nintendo DS for his birthday. My brother in law, Shaun, who is Superman when it comes to electronics and putting things together and stuff did his usual magic with the assembly of the electronics. My mom turned to me and asked me who was going to put together our birthday and Christmas toys for our kids. I said, “Mark, of course. But I will probably help.”

That made me think about the traditional “mom” and “dad” roles that people are expected to play. As far as we have come, there are still these stereotypes that exist; I suppose some are definitely accurate. I will not, under ANY circumstances, play with my kid in a mud pile. I do not see Mark as the typical “jock” dad who will teach his kid how to hit a ball with a bat. Maybe I’m wrong about this. But you know what? Who cares? Will the child be imbecile if we don’t know how to assemble a transformer in ten seconds flat?

Somehow, the toys will get put together. If the kid plays baseball, we will do our best to teach him/her to hit the ball – together. In fact, I think our strengths (or lack thereof in some areas) will benefit our child. Our little tater tot will have to be creative and independent and learn some things for him or herself: something I don’t think enough children get practice at. By not having everything done for them, or being taught how to do things “the right way,” our child will have the chance to explore his or her own talents and maybe, the child will be an electronic genius, and teach us how to put together the electronics in the process. Yay!