When you have a baby, of course you want them to be their own person and blah blah blah… but wouldn’t it also be super rad if they have all the same interests as you? I have to admit, that part of me really wants to have a mini-me.

Now the question is, how do you encourage your kids to like the same things you do without totally turning them off? I know my mom really loved dolls as a kid, so she gave me dolls, and you know what? I had no interest in stupid dolls and played with GI Joes. Why is that? Was it an inbred feeling or rebellion? Had she tried to make me like He-Man, would I have worshipped him like a Pagan sun god that he is? It is hard to say? Am I Tom Boy in reaction to my mom’s girlie girlness? Or is it in my DNA?

I am not saying I don’t want The Munch to have her own interests, I just want her to share mine. I want to have things in common with her, so there are activities we like to do together. I want to have a relationship with her that has depth and I think that the more activities we can both enjoy, the more time we will want to spend together.

When you think about it, most of your life, you are an adult. You are only a kid for a really short fragment of time… so the majority of my relationship with The Munch, we will actually both be big girls! I want her and I do to do grownup things together, like yoga, meditation, hiking, and reading Star Magazine.

So here is my hope, if I just bring her along to do all this stuff with me now, maybe she will develop a taste for it. My interests will just naturally integrate with her everyday activities, and become habitual for her. But at the same time, I will make sure to also participate in her interests, so The Munch doesn’t see me as imperious. So off I go to gum on some wires, pull things off the table, laugh at the ceiling, and drop my toys on the floor. There goes my computer….

(The Munch has a little dubious look on her face… but I think she is into yoga?)

(Ahhhhh… Stars… they are just like us)