Families

I'm kind of obsessed with families.  I always have been.  I have been analyzing families for the better part of 30 years, maybe longer.  My degree is actually in Human Development and FAMILY Relations with a concentration is Early Childhood Education.  Some people would argue that I'm not using my degree (I've had a lot of people asking me where I work lately), but really I've used it every day of my life (even before I got it), I just don't get paid (in money) for it.  I remember watching the way other families did things when I was little, and deciding which things seemed to work and which things didn't.  The family that didn't let their teenage kids open a box of cookies when the parents weren't home...not so good!  The family where the mom always had an after school snack for the kids... better!  The girl who always got the same pair of Sears jeans that I got (specifically the pair with the roller skate on the pocket)... a little spoiled, she was the youngest of five kids.  When I started babysitting, I loved hearing everything about how the families functioned, their rules, their meals, their bedtime rituals.  I still love this.  In some ways I've always known this about myself and in other ways I'm just confirming it.  Last weekend I was at a place where a lot of people were giving "talks", I was reminded how much I enjoy listening to any speaker who uses examples from their own families in their talks.  I was reminded of this again this morning when in between doing some school with Madi and laundry and dishes, I read all of a new to me blog written by a 28 year old mother of one baby.  I'm decades (almost) past that stage and yet, I just kept reading and reading.  Recently I met someone and a couple minutes into the conversation I asked her if she had kids.  She didn't.  All through the rest of the conversation I had to keep mentally checking my face to make sure I didn't look like this

I can't really relate to no kids.

 

I have more to say on this subject, but my family calls...