why did you have kids?

[N801BH]

My 10 year old daughter surprised me when I got home from work by having shoveled 6" of new snow off the driveway without being asked. I was one proud daddy.

Congrats..........

Surprised ??

50 years ago, I was 10, and us kids had this thing called "chores"... Ya know, carrying out the trash to the street, raking the yard, washing the cars, etc etc.... For that we got dinner, a warm bed and clothes to wear...

Ps.... No trophies either.....

Pss.... If we didn't do our chores,,,, a beating was just around the corner...

Different time... Different mindset....

Psss..... I turned out ok in spite of it too...

 

[Ted]

Are you freakin' nuts?!! We as a species is at 7 billion and counting. Like the famous "debt clock"? Here, check this one out-

World Population Clock

Our species is in zero danger of extinction from negative population growth. Intelligence and education are not the same. When you say the world's most intelligent women, what you really mean is the world's most educated women. There are intelligent girls being born all over the world right now.

The only thing that threatens our species is our own natural tendency to kill one another and the fact that we now have runaway population growth. They say the planet can only support 9 billion people. We will very soon find out if that is true or not.

I think you missed his point. The problem wasn't the species going extinct, it was the fact that many smart people are choosing not to breed, while the morons breed at record speed.

Of course, who your parents are doesn't necessarily mean anything for what you will be, but genetics do play a role in intelligence. Sometimes you just get scary smart people from sub-average parents, but usually there's some brains in the family somewhere.

As a species overall, we definitely are overpopulated and continuing to overpopulate. But, this needs to be addressed all around. Let's start with the people who can't afford kids but have them anyway.

 

[narchee]

I'll tell you right now what that babbling means.
It means it's time to rock, paper, scissors the wife to see who changes it

I pre-negotiated with my wife up front before the kids arrived. We agreed she would clean up poop and I'd clean up vomit. I definitely got the better deal. There was a lot more poop than vomit! I did the occasional diaper when she was away but all in all got away with it.

Okay that story has now convinced any young guys out there reading this that they are not interested in going down this road!

 

[OkieFlyer]

Man, I love my little family more than I ever could have imagined before I had them. I always figured kids would hold me back, or keep me from having stuff and the time to enjoy the stuff. Boy, that couldn't be further from the truth. It is my great pleasure to be able to include my boys in the things that I do. Contrary to what I thought would happen, the kids have added an increadible amount of joy, fun, and pleasure to my life. We still spend summers on the lake, we still go skiing, we still fly, we still vacation, and when we do those things, there are now four big smiles instead of two. That being said, I don't think kids are for everybody, and that's totally fine, but I would hate for someone not to have them just because they thought the kids might be a drag or because they just wouldn't want them to be exposed to this cruel world. Hell, your kid might do something to make the world a better place. Anywho, my kids are fun as heck, and the poop, snot, and other gross stuff is just minor and temporary. Good times!

 

[Ted]

Okay that story has now convinced any young guys out there reading this that they are not interested in going down this road!

I definitely will say that diapers are one of those things that start out seeming gross and very quickly become no big deal, as 6PC stated with his experience.

Cloth diapers make it fun because they can be cute. We have a bunch with airplanes on them.

 

[JHW]

when our 1st one was little my mother-in-law made a crack about me having to learn to change a diaper. I told her I just changed a bonanza fuel cell the previous day so how hard can it be? Diapers don't come with a box of band-aids for installation injuries.

 

[Florida Cracker]

Wen our first grandchild came along, she had been home from the birthing center for about two days before I was even able to get near her due to all the women in the family demanding their turn.

Where I did, I picked her up and changed her diaper, like I did for the kids when they were little.

Our two oldest ran and got their cameras to take a picture of me changing a diaper because they had no idea I knew how.

Who did they think changed their's?

It is funny before having kids how much I thought about the diaper part.
2 kids 3 years each so around 6 years of changing diapers.


After 8 years, I have been covered in siht, vomit, snot, blood, p!ss, you name it and it is beyond a non event. Probably by week 2 the diaper change deal was just personal contest to see how fast I could do it.

My son used to pee on me at every diaper change.

Here is the photo of my first ever diaper change (rubber gloves were a prereq )

 

[Henning]

Why did your parents have kids?

Tequila.

 

[weilke]

I think you missed his point. The problem wasn't the species going extinct, it was the fact that many smart people are choosing not to breed, while the morons breed at record speed.

Of course, who your parents are doesn't necessarily mean anything for what you will be, but genetics do play a role in intelligence. Sometimes you just get scary smart people from sub-average parents, but usually there's some brains in the family somewhere.

I think it is important not to mistake the premise of a movie for scientific fact.

The idea that classes of lower genetic worth breed faster than classes of higher genetic worth go back to the days of Galton, Morel and Davenport. This idea kept popping up throughout the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and eventually found its way into the genetic health laws of many states and countries, most prominently probably that of nazi germany.

 

[Henning]

I think it is important not to mistake the premise of a movie for scientific fact.

The idea that classes of lower genetic worth breed faster than classes of higher genetic worth go back to the days of Galton, Morel and Davenport. This idea kept popping up throughout the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and eventually found its way into the genetic health laws of many states and countries, most prominently probably that of nazi germany.

Well, without a eugenics program, the outcome is given when 80% of the population is stupid. This in and of itself isn't bad, but the stupid follow the greedy every time, so the gene pool continues to dilute with the stupid.

 

[SCCutler]

I think it is important not to mistake the premise of a movie for scientific fact.

The idea that classes of lower genetic worth breed faster than classes of higher genetic worth go back to the days of Galton, Morel and Davenport. This idea kept popping up throughout the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and eventually found its way into the genetic health laws of many states and countries, most prominently probably that of nazi germany.

Florian, while his choice of words may be sub-optimal, I think we can safely say Ted did not intend a master-race eugenics message; rather, that there is a greater propensity and (more available resources) for birth control among the well-educated, than those who are not.

Ted's not a butt. Trust me on this.

 

[Jay Honeck]

Well, without a eugenics program, the outcome is given when 80% of the population is stupid. This in and of itself isn't bad, but the stupid follow the greedy every time, so the gene pool continues to dilute with the stupid.

I'm always surprised at how few people understand the way selective breeding in genetics works. I suppose it's because it's basically accelerated and selective evolution -- and the existence of evolution is denied by many -- that the topic immediately turns controversial.

Well, that, and the abuses of Nazi Germany. But I digress.

Back on topic: When your most successful thoroughbreds stop breeding, you're not going to have the fastest horses. And that's what has happened to humans across cultural and national lines, all over the world.

Now, will this have an immediate impact? Of course not. Genetics doesn't work that way. But extend it out 500 years, and see what happens.

 

[Henning]

I'm always surprised at how few people understand the way selective breeding in genetics works. I suppose it's because it's basically accelerated and selective evolution -- and the existence of evolution is denied by many -- that the topic immediately turns controversial.

Well, that, and the abuses of Nazi Germany. But I digress.

Back on topic: When your most successful thoroughbreds stop breeding, you're not going to have the fastest horses. And that's what has happened to humans across cultural and national lines, all over the world.

Now, will this have an immediate impact? Of course not. Genetics doesn't work that way. But extend it out 500 years, and see what happens.

We don't have 50 years left much less 500 without a an immediate change in social-economic policy among people, and as long as people are willing to lie to others about how easy their lives can be, we cannot escape our fate.

 

[weilke]

Florian, while his choice of words may be sub-optimal, I think we can safely say Ted did not intend a master-race eugenics message; rather, that there is a greater propensity and (more available resources) for birth control among the well-educated, than those who are not.

Ted's not a butt. Trust me on this.

And I didn't mean to imply that.

I dont think it was Ted who brought up the 'idiocracy' plot. The ideology behind it has its roots in a very sad chapter of history and has been for the most part discredited.
As people get more educated and have more access to information, they tend to have fewer children. Increased educational attainment correlates with better results on IQ tests. For someone who looks at this in isolation, it appears that there is an inverse relationship between intelligence and fertility when it is not a causal relationship (correlation does not imply causation etc.).

 

[denverpilot]

I've heard that "selfish" logic before, applied to those without kids. I don't buy it. People have kids for selfish reasons. It's programmed into their DNA. If anything, its less selfish NOT to have kids.

Sometimes literally. Missing chromosomes make the decision for you sometimes.

That was the first hit. Then discussions about IVF with an egg donor led to a risk assessment decision about a completely different congenital issue that could kill my lovely bride. Not to mention the awkward decision of which relative to ask or whether to use eggs from a perfect stranger.

The congenital issue would have meant we might even be in the even more awkward position of asking someone to be a surrogate and carry to term. Quite difficult. Not unheard of, of course, but not easy decisions or discussions to have with folks.

After that... Which seemed to lead to "not going there"... There were half-hearted discussions about adoption. But we'd pretty much set a lifestyle and lost interest by then.

Back then, adoption costs were out of the question and the no-kids habit just eventually stuck. No major selfishness about it, just a lot of signposts that said this wasn't going to be our path.

Not as a "replacement" for not having kids, but we did dedicate ourselves to helping out financially with kids from places that aren't as fortunate. We treated that donation bill as non-optional even when I was out of work for a year, and we enjoy seeing photos of the happy teenager the oldest of those kids has grown up to be.

The world got smaller with the advent of the Internet and she found us on Facebook and said hello, even. We've chatted and exchanged pleasantries and photos of life.

If she ever gets an opportunity to travel, maybe she'll stop by someday when we are old and grey for a cup of coffee or tea and a conversation. I doubt we have any real clue what our seemingly minor fiscal support did for her life.

So... Yeah. Programmed into the DNA is sometimes quite accurate. No kids. No plans for kids. Happy to spoil the nephews and what-not.

We don't treat the dogs like they're kid replacements, like some do, and certainly not to the extremely weird way a few do, but with no kids around to blow the budget, the pups are certainly a little more spoiled than the average family pet.

And an airplane. Or part of one anyway. That's kinda nice. It won't ever be "teaching it how to throw a baseball in the backyard", kind of nice... but it's nice.

We'll stash the college fund away for paying for non-abusive, non-evil people to take care of us when we are really old, I guess. Maybe a big trip someday to see stuff. Who knows.

Just trying to enjoy whatever the dealer deals from the shoe...

 

[Jay Honeck]

We don't have 50 years left much less 500 without a an immediate change in social-economic policy among people, and as long as people are willing to lie to others about how easy their lives can be, we cannot escape our fate.

Oh, I don't think we're THAT close to Doomsday or the End Times.

I think the U.S. will be gone in 50 years, probably broken up into two, maybe three countries after the debt implodes. But humans? We'll be around a good, long time, one way or the other.

 

[LDJones]

I always liked kids. Glad I had mine. Still the single biggest blessing in an overall blessed life. He's an adult now and still makes me smile every day.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

I always liked kids. Glad I had mine. Still the single biggest blessing in an overall blessed life. He's an adult now and still makes me smile every day.

That's cool. Having adult kids sounds like a lot of fun too.
My parents on the other hand probably every day ask themselves "Seriously what the fvck happened to that one?"

 

[JOhnH]

I don't think the point was that we are endangering the size of the population so much as it was that we are lowering the quality of the gene pool. Smart people tend to have smart kids and stupid people tend to have stupid kids. Educated people tend to educate their kids and uneducated people are sort of hit and miss at that. But as a matter of fact, when I look around I see that the size of the population is expanding at an alarming rate.

Are you freakin' nuts?!! We as a species is at 7 billion and counting. Like the famous "debt clock"? Here, check this one out-

World Population Clock

Our species is in zero danger of extinction from negative population growth. Intelligence and education are not the same. When you say the world's most intelligent women, what you really mean is the world's most educated women. There are intelligent girls being born all over the world right now.

The only thing that threatens our species is our own natural tendency to kill one another and the fact that we now have runaway population growth. They say the planet can only support 9 billion people. We will very soon find out if that is true or not.

 

[N801BH]

I don't think the point was that we are endangering the size of the population so much as it was that we are lowering the quality of the gene pool. Smart people tend to have smart kids and stupid people tend to have stupid kids. Educated people tend to educate their kids and uneducated people are sort of hit and miss at that. But as a matter of fact, when I look around I see that the size of the population is expanding at an alarming rate.

Well Put.......

My thoughts exactly....

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

It will further widen the gap between the classes. Will make it easier for the smart ones to succeed and when they rise, they will have lots of workers at their disposal.

I need to start an empire or become an evil overlord.

 

[Gerhardt]

I need to start an empire or become an evil overlord.

In keeping with the theme of this thread, let's call the empire the Sons of Anarchy.

 

[N801BH]

It will further widen the gap between the classes. Will make it easier for the smart ones to succeed and when they rise, they will have lots of workers at their disposal.

I need to start an empire or become an evil overlord.

That is usually used in the same sentence......

 

[comanche pilot]

This is why.

 

[Dav8or]

So, you don't find it disturbing that the most educated women in world history have decided not to reproduce, all over the world?

Not really. It's what happens when you treat women as first class citizens and give them a choice. Many opt out of the baby factory position. Women have finally made it to first class and I think that's great.

The appreciation of the value of education, and the economic success that brings, are often built generation upon generation. Our species is breaking a very important bridge to the future when our highest achievers decide that their lineage and success ends with them.

What does "bridge to the future" mean? The future is coming no matter what we do. Any peoples anywhere can be educated if we want them to be. If our country finds itself in a crisis due to "brain drain" we can and are importing the brightest from around the world.

It actually would be in our interest to educate the poorest women around the world. As you have noted, when women are highly educated, a certain percentage decide not to have children at all and most others limit the number of children they do have. It could really slow down the population explosion. Imagine if all the women in the world were first class citizens with education and not just baby factories.

I have no fear of lack of educated, intelligent people in the future. There will be plenty. I fear the inevitable competition for resources that will begin very soon. That's what the kids being born now get to experience. The deciding of who gets what by force.

 

[Alexb2000]

The near term future IMO that prevents Idiocracy is that we will start genetically modifying embryos. I mean what parent wouldn't pay all kinds of money to add professional level athletic ability, or 50 points of IQ, movie star looks, or just tame those unfortunate ears? The human genome project was step one, check.

For those that don't think this will happen. Consider what an advantage a country like China would have with an Army of super soldiers a la, the clone wars.

The beautiful people are not yet born.

 

[Dav8or]

I think you missed his point. The problem wasn't the species going extinct, it was the fact that many smart people are choosing not to breed, while the morons breed at record speed.

Of course, who your parents are doesn't necessarily mean anything for what you will be, but genetics do play a role in intelligence. Sometimes you just get scary smart people from sub-average parents, but usually there's some brains in the family somewhere.

As a species overall, we definitely are overpopulated and continuing to overpopulate. But, this needs to be addressed all around. Let's start with the people who can't afford kids but have them anyway.

I have never read anything anywhere that suggests intelligence is something that can be bred. Intelligent kids are born all over the world all the time, but they rarely get to apply that intelligence due to the reality of where they live and who they are.

Researchers are now finding that education, really early education, when the child is one year old or less can produce more advanced kids in later life. A lot of the "scary smart" kids we see these days aren't the result of some breeding program, but rather parents that started early with the schooling. Less about play and more about learning.

As to how to stop the "morons" from breeding, the practical method is for the central governments of the world to decide who gets to have kids and who doesn't. It's an attractive idea, but not practical and definitely not popular. Our only hope is to try to get the morons to not be morons and that means parenting and education, not a eugenics program.

 

[Dav8or]

I don't think the point was that we are endangering the size of the population so much as it was that we are lowering the quality of the gene pool. Smart people tend to have smart kids and stupid people tend to have stupid kids. Educated people tend to educate their kids and uneducated people are sort of hit and miss at that. But as a matter of fact, when I look around I see that the size of the population is expanding at an alarming rate.

There we go again with the eugenics. There is no evidence that intelligence can be bred. It's not a gene pool thing. In fact, the further we spread our genes, rather than some program of restricted breeding, the closer we get to a superior human.

The reason "stupid people" have "stupid kids" is they are terrible parents and the kids get poor education. It has nothing to do with genetics. The only time that is true, is when the dip **** mother is addicted to some substance and the child is born damaged and even that is not genetic.

The reason smart people have smart kids, is they are educated and know that early education is key to their kids success in later life. Parents now are starting the education process while the child is still in the womb. The education of today's kids is intense, early and it all starts with the parents. Good parents = good kids in most cases.

Please, we need to stop this idiotic idea of "superior" people vs. inferior people. The only thing that separates us is education and opportunity.

 

[JOhnH]

Can you site any evidence for your theory?

I found dozens like this:
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/...your-iq-they-determine-how-well-you-do-school

There we go again with the eugenics. There is no evidence that intelligence can be bred. It's not a gene pool thing. In fact, the further we spread our genes, rather than some program of restricted breeding, the closer we get to a superior human.

The reason "stupid people" have "stupid kids" is they are terrible parents and the kids get poor education. It has nothing to do with genetics. The only time that is true, is when the dip **** mother is addicted to some substance and the child is born damaged and even that is not genetic.

The reason smart people have smart kids, is they are educated and know that early education is key to their kids success in later life. Parents now are starting the education process while the child is still in the womb. The education of today's kids is intense, early and it all starts with the parents. Good parents = good kids in most cases.

Please, we need to stop this idiotic idea of "superior" people vs. inferior people. The only thing that separates us is education and opportunity.

 

[Dav8or]

It will further widen the gap between the classes. Will make it easier for the smart ones to succeed and when they rise, they will have lots of workers at their disposal.

I need to start an empire or become an evil overlord.

The thing is, numerical superiority always wins. Evil empires can and have been brought down by the enslaved. I think this might be why zombie movies, TV shows and games are so popular. It's a way for the white Anglo Saxon to work through their anxieties of being over run by "inferiors" through analogy.

 

[steingar]

Sometimes literally. Missing chromosomes make the decision for you sometimes.

Missing chromosomes? Someone has been giving you really bad advice, unless you married someone with Turner's syndrome.

Smart people have just as many kids a dumb ones. Rich people have fewer kids, because it costs more to rear them. This has been going on since there have been kids and money. Rich Romans regularly used infanticide to keep their families manageable.

I would hope that in this land smart people are also relatively well off, enough to limit their fecundity due to a socioeconomic etiology. It certainly has not always been that way.

 

[Henning]

The only eugenics program that can work is to arm everyone to equal lethality and eliminate all government, let anarchy have a chance at it. If the assumption that most people are good holds true, good people would act in plain conscience and eventually violent predators will lose out to attrition. "An armed society is a polite society" can only really work in the abscense of law.

The problem is, people don't really believe people are good, they feel safer being afraid of everyone.

 

[denverpilot]

Missing chromosomes? Someone has been giving you really bad advice, unless you married someone with Turner's syndrome.

She's even in the textbooks.

(She thought it was fun reading about herself in nursing school. National Jewish removes all "identifying" data in studies, of course, but when you're reading about your own family it's pretty obvious...)

She's a "mosaic" so not all of her cells exhibit the syndrome. All the docs told her folks to have an abortion, so I'd have to say I'm pretty glad they didn't take the professional's advice. Still, I've read from
A couple of sources that Turner's may account for up to 10% of spontaneous abortions in the U.S. -- for whatever that's worth.

She lucked out on many of the symptoms, like being extremely short. Since all of her family are well over 6', she topped out at an adorable 5' 3", whereas many folks with the syndrome end up much shorter if they have shorter parents. No webbed feet or toes or neck, but we always joke that those could have come in handy if she were a swimmer. Her ears are a little lower than some folks.

The standard heart valve defect(s) for Turner's is the problem for her carrying IVF to term. Fairly risky. Although later studies showed it wasn't as risky as originally thought. 3 deaths related to heart valve side effects as recorded so far from Turner's syndrome women who've chosen to go that route to become pregnant. Most of the studies in the 1980's and early 90's suggested much higher risk.

The developmental issues also never really hit her other than the spatial / distance thing. Her driving was atrocious for a long time and she still can't judge distances well. She's always preferred that I drive if we are going somewhere. She rammed an innocent parked car once at full speed in a neighborhood as a teenager. LOL. It got better over time.

The other mathematical learning problems many Turner's folks see and non-verbal learning things, not a problem for her. She prefers math over writing any day of the week. Non-verbal, she does have a tendency toward not putting up with folks who won't just say what they want to say, but I doubt one could tie it to her genetics. Hah. Or maybe you can.

Looks like there's a reason you teach this stuff, Professor.

 

[steingar]

She's even in the textbooks. ...Looks like there's a reason you teach this stuff, Professor.

Damn. DAMN. Never heard of a mosaic Turners person in all my days, though it does make sense. Your Mrs. is going into one of my lectures. Congrats.

To inform the rest of the mental ward about what we're discussing, when the Coloradan said his wife was missing chromosomes, that alerted my interest, since the only chromosome anyone can be missing (other than the Y, which isn't resident in half the population) is the X chromosome. The rest are sub viable, that is if you're missing an entire chromosome you usually die during embryogenesis. Not enough genes.

The X is special though. It undergoes what egghead types like me call dosage compensation, when one copy is turned off in girls. Girls have two X chromosomes while boys have only one. It is full of genes, so something has to be done to equalize the gene dosage in body and girls. thus one copy is turned off in girls.

Except it isn't all the way turned off. Some girls are born with only one X chromosome, a condition called Turners Syndrome. Apparently a turned off X chromosome still does something. Turners girls have a characteristic morphology that is apparently ameliorated in Mrs. Coloradan by the presence of some X chromosomes. But there aren't enough to support "normal" development, thus she has the issues mentioned by her beau. To paraphrase Mr. Spock, fascinating.

If you have two X's and a Y chromosome you have Kleinfelter's syndrome, which is male but also not normal. True story, Mrs. Steingar had a Doc named Kleinfelter do a trigger finger remediation surgery on her hand recently. I asked his PA if he was related to the Kleinfelter of the syndrome, and she said yeah, he was the guy's grandson. I was all jazzed about it until I asked him, turns out it was total bunk and the PA got caught.

Catch me in person some time and I'll explain why Mrs. Denverpilot's condition is utterly astonishing.

 

[PaulS]

Damn. DAMN. Never heard of a mosaic Turners person in all my days, though it does make sense. Your Mrs. is going into one of my lectures. Congrats.

To inform the rest of the mental ward about what we're discussing, when the Coloradan said his wife was missing chromosomes, that alerted my interest, since the only chromosome anyone can be missing (other than the Y, which isn't resident in half the population) is the X chromosome. The rest are sub viable, that is if you're missing an entire chromosome you usually die during embryogenesis. Not enough genes.

The X is special though. It undergoes what egghead types like me call dosage compensation, when one copy is turned off in girls. Girls have two X chromosomes while boys have only one. It is full of genes, so something has to be done to equalize the gene dosage in body and girls. thus one copy is turned off in girls.

Except it isn't all the way turned off. Some girls are born with only one X chromosome, a condition called Turners Syndrome. Apparently a turned off X chromosome still does something. Turners girls have a characteristic morphology that is apparently ameliorated in Mrs. Coloradan by the presence of some X chromosomes. But there aren't enough to support "normal" development, thus she has the issues mentioned by her beau. To paraphrase Mr. Spock, fascinating.

If you have two X's and a Y chromosome you have Kleinfelter's syndrome, which is male but also not normal. True story, Mrs. Steingar had a Doc named Kleinfelter do a trigger finger remediation surgery on her hand recently. I asked his PA if he was related to the Kleinfelter of the syndrome, and she said yeah, he was the guy's grandson. I was all jazzed about it until I asked him, turns out it was total bunk and the PA got caught.

Catch me in person some time and I'll explain why Mrs. Denverpilot's condition is utterly astonishing.

And that's what an egghead orgasm looks like folks.:wink2:

 

[denverpilot]

Catch me in person some time and I'll explain why Mrs. Denverpilot's condition is utterly astonishing.

She would probably enjoy that over beverages at OSH. She's not shy about it.

I have a cool wife.

 

[steingar]

And that's what an egghead orgasm looks like folks.:wink2:

Yeah, sorry. I do geek about science.

 

[Ghery]

My wife and I have been talking about it. She actually loves children and I think she believes having her own will give her life more meaning.

I keep seeing what other couples we know go through- how everything they do either revolves around or is burdened by the kid. I have no idea what to do with children... really young ones especially. They're making some kind of noises, the women seem to be able to hear language... I only hear babbling. They look at me, they drool, they're just weird and creepy and irritating.

On the other hand, I have some interest in teaching an older kid what I know. How to rebuild carburetors, hunt, shoot, drive, etc... Also I don't want to become so elderly that I'm incapable of taking care of myself and having no blood relative who can step in.

But those early stages... and knowing that's gonna be several years... I won't lie it's scaring the **** out of me.

You'll get used to the early stages quickly enough. When they get a little older the fun continues.

I spent 10 years as an adult Scout leader while our son was growing up. I wouldn't trade that for anything. And he knows how to shoot. Drives a stick shift. And is getting married in April to a lady who already has 3 kids, so he's learning to be a Dad very quickly (and quite well, I might add).

Yes, looking forward to fatherhood is scary. No doubt about it. But, like the vast majority of us who have done it, you'll do fine. Just remember, none of us got an instruction manual with the kid when it was born. And, boy would we have liked one.

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Just remember, none of us got an instruction manual with the kid when it was born. And, boy would we have liked one.

Whew but the advice you get...
It is varied and voluminous enough to make your head spin

I was a year into my 2nd child and was at a dinner party. My daughter dropped her pacifier on the floor. I picked it up, brushed it on my sleeve and put it back in her mouth.

Audibly heard 2 non parents saying "Oh my God, did you see that?"
"He didn't even go wash it off" You just want to say to them "You have no idea what you are talking about"

 

[pilot_dude]

It's kinda like Harleys.

"If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand."

That's true, both leak at unexpected times