My wife and I have an 19-month old son named Ivan. He is very concerned that parents do right by their children (he is especially worried about my parenting skills). Ivan has decided to help out new parents by issuing a regular newsletter called:
#TeamIvan’s: News From The Crib (#98) – Passing Down Generational Wisdom.
1. My husband and I have a 19-month old son. Is it too early to start teaching him about the family tree? No, just make sure the family dog isn’t using the family tree as a bathroom.
2. My husband wants to start teaching our 19-month old son about “manly” tasks like polishing shoes and shaving. Is that okay? It’s okay if you like your son working as a child laborer for your husband.
3. We’ve put pictures up of grandparents and great-grandparents around the house. Do you think our toddler, who’s just 19 months old, understands who these relative are? Yes, he does. He just doesn’t want to acknowledge that he’s related to any of you.
4. Our family immigrated to this country through Ellis Island. Is a 19-month old too young to take for a visit to the Ellis Island Museum? No, especially if you’d like a museum full of people to help you and your family move back where you came from.
5. It’s tough getting kids to eat anything. Do you think a 19-month old is too young to enjoy the cultural dishes of the “old country?” Why because you think that American fare like PB&J and Spaghetti-O’s are so delicious that no child would pass those over for, say, haggis or stuffed derma? On second thought, stick with the American fare. Wait till your child can go to a restaurant where they don’t automatically put crayons on the table before you get a little exotic.
6. What’s the best way to teach kids about family traditions? Depends which traditions. Our family, for instance, has a tradition of talking over one another and never listening. That seems to be a tradition that is easily passed on by osmosis.
7. It seems like in the old days, people learned more from their elders. Why has that changed? It hasn’t really changed. It’s just that eons ago, when people didn’t live as long, an “elder” was anyone over the age of 21. So, the truth is, people are still learning from those elders – the ones on MTV and YouTube. If you want to learn from today’s “elders” you still can – you just have to visit them in the nursing homes where we’ve put them all.
8. I’ve read a lot of DNA testing to trace genealogy. Do you think it’s good to get our family tested to see where we’ve come from? Only if you’re prepared for the conversation with your husband when the DNA test shows he’s not the father.
9. What sorts of family heirlooms are suitable to pass along to toddlers to help them develop a sense of family? Good gifts are the family’s collection of Cheerios. Bad gifts include anything that worth anything that can also be broken.
10. What’s the most important wisdom to hand down from generation to generation? Well, with all due respect to the ladies, it’s definitely when dad teaches junior how to urinate standing up.
