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Over the weekend, Dean and I went to see some friends. They already have a young kid with a second one on the way. As seems to be the case now that I’m knocked up, the conversation inevitably turned to childbirth, and then the prospect of raising the little rugrat. Of course Dean and I are excited to show the little one all the things that make us excited, but I’m already seeing signs of the generation gap.

Sure, some movies and books and games are timeless. Dean will probably get to live his dream of showing all the Disney movies to the little one while I make some excuse to be out of the house for a while. Or I might have a decent shot at sharing some of the awesome kid’s books (A Wrinkle in Time, anyone) or games – Tetris and Mario will never lose their cool-factor.

But then there are things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or whatever new show will be running by the time the kid is old enough to get into a series. Have you SEEN the new version of TMNT? Gone is the 80s animation, with a whole new style for the modern age. And Dean was horrified! He was determined that our kid would only watch the “quality” TV that he knew and loved, like Gummy Bears and original He-Man.

So it hit me, this is where generation gaps come from. At some point, all those games I played and series I loved were the cool new thing. He-Man and Thundercats and all those awesome shows were made for my generation, and I loved them. But that doesn’t mean that little Harley or Mason will. Sure, some stuff will translate well, and I’m sure Dean will grow to love watching the new Marvel or DC stuff with the little one, plus any excuse to watch Chowder will be accepted with open arms. And I’m jealous of my kid getting to grow up with the toys-to-life genre as an established and awesome gaming genre for kids.

It’s just come as a bit of a shock already. I knew that not all the stuff I like would be appealing to a kid, and I knew that there would be shows and music that wouldn’t be what I grew up with. It’s just a bit mind boggling to see the generation gap in action, before the baby growing inside me is even born.

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I got invited to a fun event today. It was time for Disney Africa to showcase what we could expect to see in the coming year, as well as some projects that are a bit further down the pipeline. It’s always a fun event, they have one every year, and usually I just twiddle my thumbs and troll twitter until the Marvel and Star Wars stuff comes up. However, this time I actually paid attention to the kiddy crap – in not so many months’ time, it won’t be kiddy crap, it will be part of my life.

Part of my joy about having a kid is imagining all the cool things I can introduce to him/her (still not 100% which it is yet). Will it be a Star Wars or a Star Trek child? Only way to find out is by showing everything. And what about all the games to play? I think I want to start off with the classics and build up to more modern gaming just so that he/she can see the progression… not that he or she will care either way. Still, I’m looking forward to watching Don Bluth films, reading all those classic fantasy and sci-fi kids books (and some of the new ones, too), and playing with the incredible range of toys-to-life games out there that I know I will love, even if the munchkin doesn’t.

Still, it’s not just about what I think is cool, and I’ve already accepted that as soon as I become a mom everything geeky and awesome that I know and love will become totally uncool to my spawnling. So, what sort of content will the little one enjoy? Am I going to spend my future watching Doc McStuffins all day? Or will I be watching the same movies on repeat until I can recite them all from memory? I remember adoring The Land Before Time as a kid, even though it made me cry every. single. time. Will The Good Dinosaur be a replacement? And how do I explain to a small child that the fun adventure flick that they want to watch three times a day is actually really sad as you get older and understand the deeper messages?

I’m not going to stress myself out about it too much. At least I’ll get to see the new Star Wars film before the little one arrives. I wonder if it will be my last outing to a movie theater for many years. I’d better eat all the popcorn and candy while I still can.

Born Geek

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A generation gap in the making

A peek into my future, maybe