Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Suspense is KILLING Me!

By this time tomorrow, I'll be done with my psychology exam and I can tell you exactly what I'll be doing - surfing the baby clothes websites and feeling my heart jump with joy every time I get to click "boy clothes" or "girl clothes" and disregard the other one. 

You'd think that I would be this excited, since I don't really have a gender preference. But that's really why I am excited; there's a 0% chance of being let down. 

Pros of having a boy: Aaron will be happy. Little boys are fun. We have a middle name picked out, and just a short list of first name possibilities (unlike girls - that list grows longer every day!). Boys are cheaper to dress and I won't be as tempted to splurge. 

Pros of having a girl: I love shopping for girl clothes. Name choosing would be my job, and my job only. More dance recitals and gymnastics classes, less sporting events and... sporting events. Aaron will be more lenient (I recently discovered that he has the most ridiculously strict stereotypes in mind if we have a son - short hair only, no playing with dolls, etc etc. Needless to say we disagree.)

Okay it looks like the girl part is bigger buts that's just because I had to explain a bit about our recent argument over parenting styles. Aaron is old-fashioned about everything. Boys should be boys, they should have short hair, they should play sports, they should have toy guns, they should be patriotic Americans. Bleh. I say, if our son wants to take dance lessons, let him. What if he's good at it? If he wants a mohawk, why not? I believe in personal expression, especially if it's harmless and inoffensive. 

Aaron's also pro-spanking as a form of discipline, because hitting our children will "assert our authority." Bullshit. Grounding a kid or putting them in time out asserts my authority without stooping the level of an angry three-year-old. I understand that a lot of people were spanked as children and turned out perfectly fine, but there are also people who weren't spanked and are fine, and if I can raise my child to be a good person without ever physically hurting them, I'd like to do it that way, please. 

We had this argument on Mother's Day, of all days. A boy walked into the restaurant where we were eating who had shoulder-length hair, and Aaron made some comment about how his son would never have hair like that, and off we went into the theoretical world of "the right way to raise children." I think I'm just going to find a couple of parenting books that support my argument and throw them at him.

1 comment:

keely said...

wellll if its a boy im so down for the mohawk!!!! there is nothing cuter than a little boy toddler with a mohawk and little mini converse! omg i want a little child to dress.

but sadly i must agree with aaron on the spanking thing. i mean dont like hit your child but i think if it is misbehaving and not listening then a spanking is in order.

it sounds like the two of you will make excellent parents. your kiddo is lucky to have two very different view points to base its own moral compass on. im sure your little boy or girl is going to be very well rounded.