Who lived in your home? Parenting, Books, and Musings on Choices.

When my kids were small I was concerned they didn’t read certain popular books. I thought they’d go off to college and everyone would think they were weird or out of touch. They read other books. When they got to college other kids never talked about what they’d read as kids, or even in high school. It turned out that my kids and most of their close friends had read such an eclectic range of books that they were fine. They were more than fine.

The stupid things we worry about when our kids are small are, well, sometimes stupid.

Did Not Live In Our Home:
Harry Potter
Sailor Moon
Taylor Swift
Bella, Edward, and Jacob or anyone else in the Twilight series.
Boy Bands
Lord of the Rings

Who Did Live In Our Home:
Katness Everdeen
Percy Jackson
Emo Bands
Cool Jazz
Lois Lowary
Frida Kahlo

There are no rights or wrongs to those answers. It is what it is. I wish my kids had liked/loved Lord of the Rings (the books) but they weren’t interested. They were forced to read The Hobbit in school every year from 6th – 9th grade. I wish my children had read classics by Mark Twain, Charlotte Bronte, and Charles Dickens on their own without being required to. Then again they read a lot of other wonderful authors I could have never even imagined they’d be asked to read like Zora Neale Hurston, Virginia Wolf, and J.D. Salinger, to name a few. On their own they read nonfiction books about art and stories of people who’d escaped totalitarian dictatorships such as North Korea. One read horror and one didn’t. They both liked Shakespeare.

I’m glad they read books out of my normal narrow path. Mind you my path isn’t narrow, but sometimes as parents we do put on our blinders. Admit it – you do it too.

We all share different experiences with our children. We teach them things and expose them to things that are out in the big wide world. In turn, they teach us things and expose us to things that are out in the big wide world. Our kids are like us, but they aren’t us.

It is a good thing our kids aren’t just like us, otherwise all good things would come to a stop. There would be nothing new. There would be nothing different. We’d all be bored to death.

Anyway, I was just thinking out loud. Just empty nest stuff. The kids turned out great. I bet yours did too (or will), and if you don’t have kids I hope you have cats.

Stay safe everyone. Check in on those who are elderly, alone, or might need extra help. Talk to your kids. Don’t second guess yourself too often. Just don’t. You’re fine. People like you. Maybe not all people but most do. The others can pound sand. And most of all kiss a Vampire – you’ll thank me for it later.

~ Juliette aka Vampire Maman