What to Expect When Your Friends Are Expecting
My (childless) friend has a theory that the best way to make conversation with children is to treat them like tiny drunk people. Is this actually a good rule of thumb?
Kristin: Well, I don’t really treat drunk people—or tiny people—any differently than I treat anyone else. And my whole thing with other people’s kids is just that I high-five them a lot. And I don’t like high-fiving drunk people. So I guess I do treat the two groups differently.
Let’s assume you let me babysit for the day. Are there any activities (drinking, smoking of any kind), swear words, topics of conversation you’d prefer they stay shielded from? If they’re babies, does it even matter, or if they’re old enough, will they sort of know this stuff already?
Mike: Virginia. Are you asking if you can smoke weed in front of my kid? Please don’t smoke weed in front of my kid. [Ed note: I was not!]
Kristin: I mean, I’d certainly prefer if you didn’t blow smoke in my children’s faces, but I don’t really believe in shielding kids from adult behavior. I’d be a little skeeved if you decided to give them a sex talk or something. Or tried to rope them into your big 420 plans. But barring that, just be yourself, I’d say. That’s a safe thing to say, isn’t it? I hope it is. I’m sure it is.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.