As I type this, little Richard Joseph (known as “RJ” to his mommy and daddy) is nine weeks old. He’s now about 14 pounds, approximately double his birthweight. He has brown hair and brown eyes (or is it black hair…).
Now’s your chance to give worldly advice and bestow superhuman wisdom on a new member of the human race!
I figure I will save this thread when it’s run its course and then print it out and show it to my new nephew when he’s a bit older.
What would you like to say to him?
Please welcome him to the world! Tell him what to do and what not to do!
[This thread existed last week, but I think it may have been lost in this past week’s database problems. If you posted to this earlier, I’m not keeping the old one anywhere - I can’t find it!]
The Mrs. & myself are new parents, as well (Baby Girl is 11 weeks old). The best advice I can give is that either mommy or daddy stay home with baby - as opposed to outsourcing child-rearing to day-care. We’ve actually seen some pretty bizarre reactions to the Mrs. staying home, ranging from incredulity to something that resembles resentment.
Some people.
Giving up the extra income was and is a big sacrifice, but we’re confident it will be worthwhile. Anyways, that’s my 2 cents.
Welcome to the world RJ! By now I’m sure you’ve “accidently” peed on your mommy and/or daddy (or both) but don’t worry… they’ve probably already forgiven you and have bragged about it to their friends. Just make sure you’re not still “accidently” peeing on them when you’re 15! Here’s a couple tidbits of advice that you may find useful as you grow up!
DON’T:
don’t hit girls
don’t let anyone push you around
don’t do anything you’d be ashamed to tell your grandma about
don’t pick on or make fun of anyone that is “different” than you… remember, they have feelings too
don’t let peer pressure get to you… not everyone is smoking, drinking, doing drugs and having sex!
don’t drink and drive
DO:
do stand up for yourself and what you believe
do hug and kiss your parents as often as you can… even when you’re a teenager and it’s kind of embarassing… they still need it
do well in school, learn as much as you can and go to college!
do be your own person and do what makes you happy as long as you’re not hurting others in the process
Welcome to the world. Please be sure to keep the user manual that you were handed while in utero. If you lose it, you’ll have to figure out life on your own.
In any event, have fun, learn alot, make your life count for something, and, above all else, be a good person. Become a person about whom it could be said “There goes a person who does what’s right and whom we can count on to do the right thing.”
I think my reply definitely got lost in the database problems. Here’s another reply:
Welcome to the world, Richard Joseph! Your parents and uncle obviously love you very much. Kiki’s list of suggestions is a good one. Remember that in this world, there will be those who seek to hurt you. Try to rise above it, and not stoop down to their petty level of nastiness. The world will be a better place with you in it for sure.
Ahhh dear RJ, welcome welcome welcome! First off let me give you a “High Five” for the projectile vomitting on your Uncle Dan.
My words of advice are few and simple.
[ul]
[li] Beware of a girl who talks with her hands. [/ul][/li]g’head, as Uncle about it.
I hope you grow up to be as wonderful a man as Dan. He’s a good example to follow.
Between you n aunt BSQ, assuming you’re seeing this many years later … did he turn into the uncle always wearing the lampshade at christmas dinner? You can tell.
First of all, welcome RJ and congratuations to dantheman.
FUN WITH PARENTS:
1.) Pee on dad.
2.) Make huge poopy in diaper. As mom/dad removes dirty diaper and before they can put a clean one in place, unload another fecal avalanche all over the changing pad. Spit up.
3.) As dad nuzzles you close, grab a handul of chest hair and never let go.
One more thing…Sometimes people don’t do the right thing toward you…whether because they aren’t thinking or just don’t KNOW how to do the right thing. So…learn to forgive. I believe that not forgiving hurts the person who holds the hurt far more than the person who did the harm. So…Auntie Cheri says “Learn to forgive…it leaves more room in your heart for love.”
That’s all…may you have a long and happy and WONDROUS life!
Learn to laugh at most of life. Because many times the choice will be between laughing and crying. And laughing is so much better, both short- and longterm.
Also, while the advice isn’t original with me, I’ve always thought it was good, and it’s from my favorite Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, The Pirates of Penzance: “Always act in accordance to the dictates of your conscience, my boy, and chance the consequences.”
Lastly, don’t be afraid to fail. Even the best baseball players hit safely only about 1/3 of the time.
I hope you learn to manage money better than your old man, and look to somebody else for common sense.
See, in this thread your dad is talking about getting a near 40K two-seater sports car and going into serious debt to do it, right after your birth.
I thought it was a bad idea before I even heard about you, and pretty much everybody agreed with me in that other thread, again not knowing about your existence. Now that I know you’re around, I’m rendered speechless (though not keyboardless) at the selfishness implied by the other thread.
So, learn early how to take care of yourself, and start putting money away for college as soon as you start a paper route. Daddy doesn’t seem to have much interest in taking proper care of his family.
Uh oh, dantheman, I must eat crow and apologize. I thought RJ was your son, not your nephew.
I’m sorry I’ve ruined your gift thread. I’ll contact a mod and ask that my two posts be removed, so you can do a proper presentation of the advice at a later date.
Damn, I need to read things to the end. Again, my apologies. I am indeed the :wally of the day.
I doubt they’ll remove the post, yojimboguy, because doing so actually puts more of a strain on the server than you might think. But thanks for the apology!
Stay in school. Go to college. A diploma may not mean much, but it looks good on a resume and gets your foot in the door.
Don’t be afraid of hard work.
Remember, mommy and daddy have been 5 or 10 or 14. You have not been 30 or 32 or 36. They know more than you. You may not like it, but they have truly been there done that.
You will get your heart broken many times before you meet your true love. Accept it, learn from it, and don’t let it get you down.
Some people will be mean to you. There’s nothing wrong with you, there’s plenty wrong with them. Don’t be afraid to defend yourself.
One good friend is better than ten fair-weather friends.
Read read read. A love of books learned early will open doors for you that you never imagined.
Be nice to animals.
And shoving everything under your bed does notmean your room is clean.
My advice: Don’t get hooked on video games. Read instead.
Oh, yeah… Go fishing. Alot. It’s better (and cheaper) than therapy. You get sun and fresh air (see tomndeb’s advice above). You meet nice people, and it’s fun.
