Image: ZDNet
A few weeks ago, the reality show addicted parts of my family and they had me sit through an episode of MTV’s True Life. In this ep, an uber Star Wars GeekDad asks his son to accompany him to Star Wars Celebration II. The son is almost the anti-thesis of his father, but wants to better understand why a grown man would have packages of action figures and lightsaber replicas all around the house.
Now that my kids are getting into tweenhood, I wonder if some of their early geeky tendencies will survive. While not as obsessed as the dad in that MTV show, my kids do have a very good appreciation for geek that I am. Star Wars, Sci-Fi, Computer Programming, Airplanes, Aerospace. If any hint of these topics are on TV or in the news, you can always here them scream, “Hey Dad! You probably want to come see this!”
I try my best to not impose. I really would like for them to grow up with their own interests (no, really I would). Besides, I received fair warning when my wife saw me obsessing over their first Lego set when they were much younger. But what geek parent can resist introducing some of their favorite pastimes to their budding geeklets? My question is what happens when it doesn’t take? How crushed will you be? Most likely I will not cry like Star Wars Dad. I will just sit back and wait on the grandkids and then get my revenge. Bwaaaaahahahahahaaaa!
Here are a few experiences with my own brood:
- Legos used to be a big deal. But now, they can put a set together in a few hours and after that they lose interest. I suggested to my wife that we upgrade to something more challenging. For some reason, she thinks that I really want the Ultimate Lego Millennium Falcon for myself.
- Watching 2001: A Space Odyssey: “Why did that monkey beat up the other one with that bone? That is so mean!”
- “Who wants to go to ComicCon?!”…crickets…”It’s in San Diego”…”Meeeeeeeee!”
- Going alone to the premiere of Attack of the Clones 🙁
- Conversation with my daughter: “Yes, you can have a boyfriend at sixteen, if he is in the math club or on the quiz bowl team.”
