People start having children for a myriad of reasons ranging from pregnancies planned down to the minute detail,  to just plain ole accidents, or even adoption.  We planned both of our children with careful and exact detail.  We employed the use of ancient Mayan and Aztec calendars, along with astrological signs and a fortune teller.  In fact, we had the timing nailed down so precisely that my wife became pregnant with both children on our very first try.  I suppose for those that struggle to conceive, this would be a blessing.  For me, it was a beating.  I missed out on all of the no-strings-attached love-making that had been promised by the ancient prophets…and my drinking buddies. Instead, it was wham, bam, thank you sir.  I felt that I had been sexploited.  Nonetheless, I got over it and we now have two beautiful children with promising futures, at least we like to envision their futures that way.

Many parents have plans for their children’s futures.  Some parents start planning their children’s careers at day one.  I imagine these people sitting in their nursery and baby has just finished up a nice feeding with mom and is handed off to dad.  You might think that dad is going to rock the baby to sleep, or swaddle him up for the night, but instead he whips out his Make Your Baby A Doctor For Dummies handbook and they immediately go into illustrations of the nervous system.  There are, of course, parents at the complete opposite end of this spectrum that have, and never will have any ambition for their children’s futures.  I envision a typical scene in such a household where the baby is in the garage scrounging around for food on the floor.  The mom is just settling in with her heroin rig.  She flicks the air out of her needle and the slips away into unconscious bliss.  Dad is not there because he is doing 5-10 for assault with a deadly weapon.  These are extreme illustrations and most parents fall somewhere in between.

Like most of you, we find ourselves in the middle of this spectrum, if not more toward the front half.  Of course we have a plan for our children’s futures.  While we may not be doing flash cards with the bones of the body on them just yet, we do some things that are helping our children progress toward our vision of their future.  Our work with M (our 3 year-old daughter) is tracking nicely and we are starting to see some positive results.  B (our 8 month-old son) is just crawling now and starting to pull up on things.  His training will really start once he is walking.  I have already bought him one of those little walk-behind toys to help him master walking.  This toy will be the start of his training.  You are probably asking what our plan is for our children that requires us to work with them and train at such an early age.  I am going to provide you with a glimpse into my children’s futures.

Picture, if you will, the wife and I in our summer attire.  We are lying on barcaloungers by the pool and catching some rays.  The wife is sipping on a cocktail that is topped with a miniature umbrella and I have an icy imported beer.  I look over at her and say, “Should we give the kids a little break?”  “Oh I suppose. They have been working really hard lately”, she responds.  “Well, they work hard because they have been properly trained”, I say as we clink our drinks together.  Oh.  What’s that?  You want to know what this dream sequence has to do with the kids? 

Remember that walk-behind toy of B’s that I mentioned?  What about all the games that we played with M that involved picking up dirty clothes or dusting furniture with her stuffed animals, or even moping the floor in her costume?  These activities seem meaningless when you look at them individually, but as a whole, they are the foundation for our children’s futures. A future that enables the wife and I to enjoy those cocktails, and enjoy those barcaloungers.  I think you are getting the picture now.  We are training our children to be our slaves.  B’s toy has been training him to mow the lawn since he started walking!  All of the games that we played with M that were so fun to her were training for her future as our house keeper!  It will be only a matter of a couple of years before the rewards start to roll in. 

and she thinks this is a game...mua ha ha

You may be thinking that they are just children and that they should not have to work so hard.  The beauty of this is that they think that they are playing games, or playing with toys!  I think this future will work out just fine for them.  It could be worse.  They could be scrounging around on the floor for food while the wife rigs up and I snuggle up with my cell mate, Leroy.  In fact, while the kids are “playing”, I think I will go do some online shopping for barcaloungers.