Give and take

I do a lot of things now that I wasn't able to do as a child. I eat whatever cereal I want, for instance. When I was a kid, it was Rice Krispies or Cheerios, that's it. Now I eat Coco Krispies or Corn Pops, sometimes Honey Nut Cheerios if my body is a shrine that week. Yes, I went from a collar-down cereal eater to one with collar rebelliously up.

Once our daughter is old enough to know the good cereals from the healthy cereals, though, I suspect we'll become a Rice Krispies and Cheerios household again. Which causes me to panic a bit because, well, I'll have to hide my cereal. Hey, I don't want my daughter eating crap that turns milk purple. But I want to eat it still.

Can parents have their three pieces of cake and eat them too? Or do they modify their behavior to what they would consider acceptable for their child? I can imagine some things are easy and you don't really think about them. I don't think I'm outwardly hypocritical, so naturally I won't be chomping on the Chocula while the little one miserably slogs through her Horsie-O's. We'll slog miserably together--and bond.

Other things seem easier said than done. One hour of T.V. per day? My goodness, does that include video games? And what about the violent ones? Am I limited to Mario Party until she turns 17?

Julie and I have been talking about getting a T.V. for our bedroom. We're not sold on it yet because we've never been in bed and thought, "Hey, if only we could mindlessly click channels in search for entertainment." But when God of War 6 comes out for the PS4 and the munchkin's only in kindergarten, something will have to give.

But it's not like I'll ever be the dad holed up in his bedroom playing video games while his young child chops vegetables in the kitchen. So yeah. I guess for now we're at an impasse.