June 07, 2010

what am I raising?

Asia made a disconcerting comment today. Something that caused me to question how I was raising her.

She said, "Mom, I just want to be a talented mom."
"What do you mean?" I asked, thinking maybe she was trying to get at something else.
"There's so much I want to do and I want to do it all at home."
I was still confused, so I continued to prod her. "But you need money to live. How are you going to live?"
Her reply, "Oh, my husband can work. If I need to, I can sell some paintings."

Where did she get this? Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being a mom. Or even a talented mom. Asia mentioned that she had many talents. I was thinking, maybe she was awestruck by all the mothers of her friends who are dedicated to their children and show up at their children's plays and volunteer? But this thing about not having to work and her husband can support her? Where did she get this? It's not like that is the model she sees in our house. I'm racking my brain thinking of any TV shows that she watched recently that might have instilled this notion of hanging out at home to do whatever she wanted while the husband worked. Now it's very possible that Asia meant she wanted to be an artist and work at home. And maybe she's the kind of artist that doesn't want to commercialize. It's intriguing. I'll have to bring up this subject with her again to see what she meant. Of course, she said all this as we were driving to pottery studio class. And who's idea was it to go? Mine, of course. And again, there's no problem with being a mom and wanting to stay home. Or even aspiring to be a mom and stay home. But I think most of us have aspirations to be something. And you want your kids to want to be something. I'll have to get to the bottom of this.

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