Deep and Dirty

I’ve had three of my own children and spent my professional life thinking about children. And yet I still find my relation to my children deeply puzzling. Our love for children is so unlike any other human emotion. I fell in love with my babies so quickly and profoundly, almost completely independently of their particular qualities. And yet 20 years later I was (more or less) happy to see them go – I had to be happy to see them go. We are totally devoted to them when they are little and yet the most we can expect in return when they grow up is that they regard us with bemused and tolerant affection. We are ambitious for them, we want them to thrive so badly. And yet we know that we have to grant them the autonomy to make their own mistakes. In no other human relation do we work so hard to accomplish such an ill-defined goal, which is precisely to create a being who will have goals that are not like ours.

— 

Alison Gopnik

This weekend I took Archie to Brighton and left him alone a few times when I went out. I worried about him a lot when he wasn’t by my side and it made me think about having kids and what it’s gonna be like when they don’t need you anymore. First I realise I’m not immortal and now I’m thinking about babies. Scary shit man.

Notes:

1. nalexandrova liked this
2. kayli reblogged this from gardenofsimple
3. girlsfly reblogged this from gardenofsimple
4. freewheelinblues liked this
5. beachmom reblogged this from fairlightday
6. beachmom liked this
7. themoreridiculousthebetter liked this
8. kindnessalwaysmatters liked this
9. velvetvox reblogged this from fairlightday
10. harbingersofhappiness reblogged this from fairlightday
11. fairlightday reblogged this from gardenofsimple
12. fairlightday liked this
13. gardenofsimple reblogged this from conflictingheart
14. gonggone liked this
15. thatprettyoddfeminist reblogged this from dishabillic
16. dishabillic reblogged this from conflictingheart
17. nerds4life reblogged this from conflictingheart
18. joga-luce reblogged this from psychotherapy
19. celestialburst liked this
20. okayauco reblogged this from psychotherapy
21. dreamingofisis reblogged this from psychotherapy
22. hlessi liked this
23. kingsandratini liked this
24. geezpeaslouise liked this
25. leahcreates liked this
26. crowdeddream reblogged this from conflictingheart
27. morecoffee reblogged this from psychotherapy
28. morecoffee liked this
29. sugar-cane liked this
30. deepanddirty reblogged this from conflictingheart and added:

    This weekend I took Archie to Brighton and left him alone a few times when I went out. I worried about him a lot when he...

31. leogursky liked this
32. firstverses liked this
33. ryannjoy liked this
34. rebeccachai liked this
35. thoughtsofjen liked this
36. austpicious liked this
37. aluramia reblogged this from conflictingheart
38. lapetitemort liked this
39. xnivix reblogged this from conflictingheart
40. the10thdimension reblogged this from conflictingheart
41. adribradley reblogged this from psychotherapy
42. trainplaydrink reblogged this from psychotherapy
43. hiilove reblogged this from conflictingheart
44. masayaka reblogged this from psychotherapy
45. masayaka liked this
46. wooliebear liked this
47. oursarah liked this
48. justnottonight liked this
49. inthelostandfound liked this
50. Show more notesLoading...