Conjured Activism

conquering the world one oxymoron at a time

babies

November 17, 2006 at 12:58 am · Filed under daily grind

On the last day that YinYin was in town, we took the MIT shuttle to the T stop to go downtown, and a woman came onto the shuttle with a baby carriage and the cutest baby in the world laying in it. The baby couldn’t have been more than 6 months old, and it immediately made me think, “awww, I wish I had one.”

I was surprised when YinYin said to me a bit later, “yeah, remember that baby we saw on the shuttle? It made me wish that I had one.” I thought that only I think about how cute babies are and how much I want to have a baby (okay, not practical right now, but still; they’re cute). Is my biological clock somehow ticking like crazy that I gush at all babies and want to take tons of pictures of them whenever I see one?

Later that day, YinYin and I went on a Duck Tour around Boston. Behind us sat a 2 or 3 year old little girl. She was very adorable, and very cute, but she SCREAMED and SCREECHED and SHRIEKED the entire 80 minutes of the tour. At one point, YinYin and I both looked at each other and said the same thing. “God, I’m really glad now that I DON’T have one of those.”

Funny how our minds changed so fast :)

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5 Comments »

Keltheyounger wrote @ November 18th, 2006 at 6:18 pm

I think child psychology is a fascinating field. One conclusion I believe they’ve drawn is that ill-tempered children are the result (at least in part) of inattentive parents. I see it in stores all the time, the screaming howling banshee of a child - and the parent who is more interested in the price of chicken than their youngster’s bad behaviour (I didn’t misspell “behaviour” by the way - I love the British spelling with that extra ‘u’ in there!) I believe parents can control those things but often choose not to.

Do you think all babies are of equal cuteness? I definitely think some are cuter than others. I worry that when I have kids some day, they won’t be at the top of the cuteness scale. I guess all parents worry about those things: what if my kid is ugly? What if my kid is stupid? But again, they are *our* children, so it’s in our power to guide them in the right direction. If they’re not incredibly adorable, we can at least keep them healthy. If they’re not brilliant, we can at least get them tutoring. I think every child can do well in life as long as the parents care about them.

So forget about babies becoming whiny - diapers are what really scare the hell out of me. :-) (I’m kidding of course.)

ali wrote @ November 19th, 2006 at 4:27 pm

There may be some truth to what Kel the Younger says, but at this moment it strikes me as terribly arrogant. Who the heck knows why children throw tantrums. But, Ive got one who throws tantrums everywhere especially in the street and on the bus. Thank God I am in Mexico though, so I dont know have to be judged by smug, all knowing people. erghhh

Keltheyounger wrote @ November 19th, 2006 at 7:14 pm

I’m sure there are smug, all knowing people in Mexico too. You just have to look in the right places.

ali wrote @ November 20th, 2006 at 6:34 pm

Yeah, there are, but they are riding in their own cars.

Katelyn wrote @ November 28th, 2006 at 4:02 am

I’ve done the same thing. I see a little baby acting well and I think I’d love to have one, but I know I don’t want one at this age. Then I see one misbehaving, and I think thank goodness I don’t have children. Blech!