On relationships with parents

Being a parent your perspective shifts on any number of fronts. One I was giving idle thought to  the other day is commonality with parents. As a kid, you’re totally dependent on them and look to them to supply entertainment and interest. The things you are both interested in and talked about overlap enormously.

At some stage, usually around the teenage years (maybe sooner now thanks to the Internets), kids have the temerity to start to be passionate about things their parents have no hope of keeping up with – for me it was rock music, Transforming robots and technology – and your interests move apart. I distinctly remember a conversation where I tried to engage my parents in a discussion about what some Weezer lyrics meant and was surprised at the time at their inability to engage with me on this front… in retrospect, what was I thinking??

Then at some stage a bit beyond that – you have kids yourself and suddenly the common interests you have with your parents ramp up again. You’re both interested in child development, nursery rhymes, infant healthcare, and crucially – the kids in question.

Just an idle thought… one that will hopefully give me perspective when Emily starts to talk to me about things I don’t understand at all in a few years time…