uberreiniger: (I'm thinking (mellifera))
uberreiniger ([personal profile] uberreiniger) wrote2006-03-16 05:11 am
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I keep trying to get up the energy to post something. I've got a lot of thoughts I'd like to say swirling around in my head but they don't feel like coming out. I would like to address something that's been going around in my mind for a while and has been building in intensity. I really hope I don't offend anyone with this question, but my mind won't leave it alone.

This one is for the parents or those thinking about becoming them at some point: what made you decide to have kids and why? I'm genuinely curious. It seems as more and more time passes that the very idea of it makes less and less sense to me and I can't understand why anyone else would willingly do it. Maybe it's because all my life I've always looked at having children as something you do when you're "older" and I definately don't feel "older" yet. I still feel like I'm a kid even though I'm almost thirty. But a certain misanthropy taints my view as well and I don't like it. My attitude ranges from puzzled bewilderment on the best days to, on the worst days, the rather bitter, hostile view that the absolute last thing this planet needs is another fucking human being living on it.

Either way, it's a view that's completely negative and unhealthy. I need some positive views to balance it. Of course, I'd like to hear others' thoughts on the more negative aspects of parenthood as well. I hope my request and my thoughts have made sense. Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to answer.

On to my real life, it's pretty much revolving around the play. Waiting For Godot, despite being one of the most respected and analyzed plays of the 20th century is woefully underappreciated and misunderstood. I think most people only half-understand it and take it too much at face value. It gets called Absurdism when really, it's not absurd at all. Reading it might make it seem that way, but when you begin to act it out it all makes perfect sense. *shrug* Tonight's rehearsal was bad. We got stuck on act 2 where the two main characters cannot remember their lines at all. We open in a week now, so it's stressful for all involved. It was an easy rehearsal for me since I lay on the stage for most of the act and have no lines in it at all. But laying on sheets of chipboard atop a concrete floor for two hours has disadvantages of its own too.

On the home front, Mel turned in her two week notice at her retail job since she has an opprotunity for full-time hours at the library. There's no guarantee those full-time hours will stay there, but after much discussion we decided it was worth the risk. It will be better for us both in the long run and make it easier for us to spend time together more, which is a good thing.

And... before I knew it I had a very long and rambling post on my hands where I basically wound up saying all the things i thought were too much trouble to go to the effort of saying. Way to go me! The end.

[identity profile] uberreiniger.livejournal.com 2006-03-17 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
I think you hit on something really valid there: if you're not sure you want them, don't have them. The way I see it, once you're a parent, that's your job. You don't get a life of your own. You have to be completely prepared to live 24 hours a day for the care and good of another person. I've seen the consequences of half-assed parenting too many times to believe it's anything less than an all-or-nothing proposal.

I can't give that. I like having money and spending it. Sleeping all day or going to a movie if I want to. I like not having to put a lot of thought or effort into what's for dinner. I don't live much beyond the end of my nose, you might say. Maybe that makes me short-sighted and selfish, but at least I'm honest enough to admit that it makes me not ready to take that ultimate step of parenting.

[identity profile] rustie25.livejournal.com 2006-03-17 01:08 pm (UTC)(link)
You are unselfish enough to know that you arn't ready to be a parent. Some people want the kids for all the selfish reasons, but want to keep doing things like spending all their money on nonessentials, sleeping all day and going out when they want. They are the selfish ones, wanting all the good feelings a child brings you without all the committment.

[identity profile] chade66.livejournal.com 2006-03-17 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)
It doesn't mean that you have to give up living your life, it does mean that you have to make an effort to include your child/children in your life. It might mean getting a babysitter so you can go to a concert, but it gives you an excuse to go to many, many themeparks! We ended up at Worlds of Fun three times last year.