Parenting

I've been watching Modern Family these days, which is about three related families - how they deal with each other, and more importantly how parents deal with their children. I must say I don't feel confident about becoming a cool parent in the future after watching it. To be a cool parent, you need to understand your children, be sensitive to their emotional demands, but not too sensitive if they don't want so; you need to acquire some sports skills - football (or soccer in the US), basketball and baseball to cope with their constantly changing interests; and you probably even need to be strong enough to take crazy rides at Disneyland with them. To put in short, you have to be omnipotent as they demand, and disappear when you're not in need. What's worse, you pay for your own work.

Gang and I have been talking about pregnancy for a while, and I start to read related books. There seems to be enough problems when you're pregnant, but now I'm reminded that the worse is afterwards. After the short joyful moment of bringing a new life to the world, you start to make all sorts of efforts to raise him/her up in a healthy and happy way. I can hardly picture myself a capable mother, who can understand what infants are trying to express through their waving hands and babbles, teach them a language which is not even my mother tongue, start a conversation on sensitive topics or teach them how to dance in proms. There are simply too many skills to learn to help them grow up, which is almost like having a new growth experience for myself. I've never taken any course on how to bring up an Asian baby in the US, and I have 0-year experience in this field, I can't say I can do it.

Parents never stop worrying. When children are still infants, you worry about whether they will grow up healthily, and watch your words and behaviors to immune them from inappropriate impacts; when they're kids, you worry about whether they can do at least average in schools; when they grow up, you worry about how they deal with their peers, and if they're too close to some of them; and even when they finally get a job and start a family, your pains are not ending - it's time for them to remind you of all the peccadillo you've made during their growths. Sometimes I get frustrated because of the problems out of my control, and I can see how this kind of frustration become more frequently in the future when dealing with an infant, a kid and a teenager.

At the end of the blog, to clarify, first I'm not a control freak, second I'm not pregnant yet. I guess I'm just  a little bit worried about my future baby who's gonna to be raised by two nerdy parents, both of which knowing more about Confucius than "row row row your boat."

Modern Family