The other day,M and I were in the middle of discussing random stuff when out of the blue,he says to me,"Hey,you know what,when we have kids,I would want them to eat meat."And needless to mention,that kinda triggered off a whole new debate altogether.So it got me thinking about how M and I have extremely contradictory points of view when it comes to certain issues.For instance,he is an atheist and I am not.I am a vegetarian and he is not.So you get my drift here,right?Now none of these issues have had any ill effects whatsoever on our relationship.We have accepted each other for who we are and have never attempted to impose one's belief on the other which has worked out beautifully well(touche`) for us.So the million-dollar question is,what happens when we have kids?
First of all,there is the whole Tamil-Kannada angle.Lets say our offspring is a genius and manages to master both languages and as a result has both sets of grandparents thrilled to bits.One hurdle cleared.Next comes food habits.I argued that we should let the offspring decide for himself/herself.To which M countered that such a decision can be made only if the offspring is exposed to all categories of food in the first place.Well,makes sense I guess.Which brings us to our next question;when would be the appropriate age for the said exposure to take place?How do we manage not to influence the offspring with our individual preferences considering the fact that both M and I are very strong-willed people?And then of course comes the religion angle.Both of us are not overtly religious.In fact I don't think M even cares!I care to the extent that I want our offspring to understand my interpretation of that unseen force and strong faith that for me is god.It will then be upto him/her to believe or not.I would like our offspring to be exposed to festivals and the celebrations that they entail only so that he/she gets a well rounded exposure to what being a family is all about.It has nothing to do with the whole religious aspect though.I just want him/her to have as much fun as I did when I was younger on such occasions,with my family.Well,for that matter I even want him/her to climb tress and play with discarded rubber tires like I did.But I digress.
Its not like we plan to produce the aforementioned offspring anywhere in the near future.And yet,that one offhand remark got me thinking....
8 comments:
Good one! Well, no offence but the cross-border tension will always be there...but dont u worry, today's children (and tomorrow's in ur case)are far more smarter than we can even imagine! My cousin (who is in a very senior position in a leading MNC in Bombay) is married to a Punjabi boy (equally positioned) and she has 2 boys who, so effortlessly, talk both languages fluently. Answer in one language to one set of grandparents and question in the other to the other set! They somehow realise it automatically. So dont u think too much:)
But yeah, I shall refrain from the veg-nonveg debate! You know where I'll vote :-)
And btw, I liked the disclaimer in the end :-)) hehhee!
Oh Boy! I could've written this post. I was planning to post something on similar lines!
This is very freaky :)
Nice one. I'm sure you guys will reach a cosy midpoint while raising the child. Or, maybe the child will be vegan :) One never knows :)
M : :-)HAD to include the "disclaimer" you see!
Abhipraya : I am looking forward to the post then! :-)
Su : One dosen't want to think about it either!One just wants nature to follow its course!
hey! I felt as though i was reading my own thoughts here - although he's vegetarian so the debate dint crop up.
But the whole bi-lingual thing among others.. are things ive thought about too. Let me know what becomes of it, will need some pointers im sure. :)
First time on your blog, I like. :)
And its so strange, one of my best friends is in a telecommunications company in Dallas :)
@Serendipity : Thanks!!
Oh and we should compare notes ever so often in that case! ;-)
Thanks for stopping by!
And as far as your second comment goes,I guess you didn't name your blog serendipity for nothing!!!
That's an interesting debate and one that I think all married couples go through - not the veg/ Nv one but about their different belief systems and which one the kids should follow. I'm from a super mixed up family, but I think so far at least, it's been to the kids' benefits, not confusion.
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