Sheeple

My Future Kids will never be cool. This more of a probabilistic statement than anything, given their unfortunate choice in parentage. More importantly, however, they never be too cool. This is not a probabilistic statement. I will ensure it. It's true that as children, My Future Kids will be acutely aware of the importance of fitting in, but I will consider it my mission that they never mistake fitting in for not being silly or having a good time. They don't need to be annoying or have any of the trendiest attention deficit disorders of the day. It's just a matter of not being so self-conscious that they don't get to have a good time. Children can be very serious creatures, I am aware of this. They are unusually occupied with what is real or not, and I will forgive them for this, because I know that realism is just a phase.
I realize that there is a danger in disregarding less desirable aspects of My Future Kids' personalities as "just  a phase." It seems disrespectful to what could be a very real part of My Future Kids' personalities. Even those parts of their personalties that are a product of a "phase" produce very real parts of their identities no matter how temporary they may be.
I think that as a parent it must be difficult to fully respect your progeny. I don't know if it's because you watch them grow up from a non-sentient larval state or maybe it's just a parent thing. I've only just realized that I might have to work hard to accept My Future Kids as potential adults and as people who have desires and feelings just as acute as any other person's. My Future Kids will at times be stupid, unreasonable, angsty, or even smarter than me, and I will just have to respect that even though their feelings are stupid, they're still very real. And sometimes they will be right about things and I will be wrong and I need to be prepared for those times and not dismiss their opinions because I think that mine are more valid than theirs.
My Future Kids, man, someday they'll be people, REAL PEOPLE. With real people problems! Real people worries! Real people emotions! Some day My Future Kids may be faced with all those things that will someday shape their lives, and if I don't do my job right, I may never know about it.