I took my kid to Target the other day. As one of the last 3rd spaces available where capitalism showcases the latest and greatest, I figured I’d treat it as a learning experience for him. He really wanted a very specific skid-steer toy, so I told him he could pick out something else if we couldn’t find one.
There is something very unsettling about vaguely understanding the state of the world and being a parent. First I drove him through the clothes section because he’s around the age where I’d like him to start expressing his preferences on what he wants to wear. Up until now he’s been told what to wear by all the gifts he gets for his birthday, and I didn’t really understand that implication until just then.
And that led to the next basic conclusion - his toy preferences were also dictated by all the gifts he’s received from friends, grandparents, or what he sees at school. We walked through what was clearly and distinctly the girl toys section. I’m still 
to shit so I felt awkward walking down the aisle but I put on a brave face and asked him if anything there interested him.
Nope he still wants the skid-steer. We pass by the car brain section and I notice more acutely now that there are 600 variants of the same plastic car with different paint colors. None of them interest him. We see the fascist puppies of paw patrol which thank god he doesn’t care for either. In the construction toys section, a skid-steer catches my eye and I point it out to him. He shakes his head, no daddy that’s a bulldozer. My toddler knows more about construction equipment than me. I’m proud and terrified in the same instant.
He zeroes in on an excavator. I remind him this will be the 4th variant of excavator that he owns and explain that we should donate some of his older excavators since we don’t need all of them. I spend a few minutes in the aisle of target asking if he’s sure that he wouldn’t enjoy trying out a different toy or exploring his interests a bit, but he’s set.
In the parking lot I show him how to return the cart to the cart return. I was reminded of the redditest discourse ever - cart return politics. People in those threads act like returning a cart is some mark of a morally superior person. Like it isn’t the most basic bare minimum utterly insignificant expression of social responsibility. It still needs to be fucking taught to a person. Empathy is natural but it still needs to be nurtured or people will just assume whats in front of them is just how things are.
As I’m strapping my excited kid in to his car seat I keep thinking about that. He’s holding his cheap plastic excavator that’s maybe a third the size of him and he can’t wait to get home, and what’s in front of him is just how things are. I get in to the driver seat and I feel totally overwhelmed. I start tearing up. I immediately move the rear view mirror so he doesn’t see his grown ass dad show a moment of weakness in a paved sea of personal chariots in front of the temple of capitalism. This way of life is built on so much suffering and it’s so hollow and fake, and here I am teaching my child the prescribed ways of coping, escaping, avoiding it.
I love my kid, I’ve already made so many mistakes and I know I’ll make more. It makes me really hopeful that he loves construction stuff so much. I feel so much shame for being a stupid lib for so much of my life, but also so much of his life. I also can’t help but wonder if my parents felt the same way when I was a toddler, if this is just some repeating cycle that will continue until this decaying empire fails its last failure that finally breaks the whole system.
They could stop it all now if they wanted. They could end things from a position of relative strength. Agree that - haha ok things went a little too far there - let’s end the whole exploitation and colonialism thing. Maybe start talking reparations and some prison sentences for the worst offenders. Nothing could possibly make up for all the pain and suffering done so far, but nothing will get better until it stops.
But they don’t. My child will grow up immersed in this death cult machine and have to operate in its confines just like me. Me, his father, the guy he looks up to and expects to protect him. We talk about radicalizing people but I can think of nothing more radicalizing than realizing the world you are handing down to your own children is this.
Thanks, I really like reading the lorax to him (even though it’s a bit long for some nights)
My kid loves the Lorax (has a plushy she pulls out when we read the book too), but yeah, hell of a long book. I was surprised actually at how long so many of Dr. Seuss’s books were. Cat in the Hat, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, incredibly long haha.
I struggle with the thoughts you expressed in your post at times. For me, they’re more centered around TV and how accessible content is. We’re pretty heavy-handed on what we encourage our kiddo to watch (the other is too young to really absorb any of it). I often have this thought of picking a weekend day and making it a no-screen day. Sometimes I feel like I want to toss all the TVs into the trash and live without it, fantasizing about all the “time” I’d get back. I see shows like Puppy Patrol and I can’t even fathom letting the kids watch it. I was pretty annoyed (not that I expressed it, really) when the Daycare had the local public services over (including cops) to explain what they do and my kiddo came home picking up blocks and pretending they were guns. Also, a lot of “Good Guy” / “Bad Guy” talk sprung out of that. That held her attention for only about two days before it was out of her head, thankfully.
We have plenty of toys, but the ones that tend to get used the most are the creative stuff. We made that stuff super accessible (Play-Doh, crayons, paper, sticker books, blocks, Legos, Puzzles etc.) while everything else is stuffed into an Ikea bucket organizer. I’d rather them get more of that stuff than a bunch of licensed toys. That’s a reflection of me too though, I like drawing/building/making/creating stuff (not that I have the time for it these days). I’m more likely to join in if that’s what they’re doing.
My only hope currently is when they’re old enough to start learning about the world from school, that I can help them get a fuller perspective on the topics. Until then, I just want them to have fun and not feel too burdened by information. Between then and now, I’m doing my own self reeducation. Trying to read as much as I can, for myself, but also for them. The hardest part is giving up the more entertaining things (like games while they nap), so it’s a balancing act for sure.
I just try to remind myself that no one in history was born under the clearest skies, no one was born at the right time, or in the right place, and yet they persisted. If they could struggle through their times of troubles, I at least have to try to struggle through ours.
This terrifies me. Even now my kid says stuff that I know he picked up from other kids and I have to calmly correct him without being a stick in the mud. I think some of my worst memories growing up were times when my parents harshly rejected something I wanted or expressed and I now know it came from a place of ignorance. Like I said I know I’ve made mistakes in that regard too but I want it to be as rare as possible. I shared plenty of things I learned in school with my parents and I don’t remember any pushback, so I know I can break that cycle at least. In their defense they didn’t have the internet.
I know it’s simple but I think I really needed this. Thank you. I want to be able to tell my kids that we’re doing our best and I want to do it without lying to him. Struggling sucks, but its how make life better for our children and their children.