I was over at my in-laws for some recent holiday shindig. I always bring a computer or three and some networking equipment so we can game (generally decent games rather than FPS's)

Playing Worms Armageddon (FUN!) I found myself saying things like, "Die worm! AH HA HA HA HA!!!"

I didn't realize how it sounded until a nephew, who happened to be behind me, started repeating "Die Worm!" over and over again.

Now, that's pretty inocuous, but it sounds very out of place for a 3yr old to be running around the house saying it, and it really brought home the point that children mirror adult actions and behaviour.

Now that I can only mutter "Die worms!" under my breath, the evil cackle just doesn't have the same effect on the enemy.

Oh well.
I have a 5yo daughter who is very much like me (even from birth she exhibited the same mannerisms). Going through the ‘parroting stage’ where she mimics everything you say I had to edit myself constantly or cries of HOLY SHIT would be repeated endlessly.

She has trouble with paying attention when there is a TV on in the room. Just like me. She whines a LOT like her mother. She cares about people and is very maternal like myself. She LOVES computers like me. She enjoys spooky things like her me. To a degree she even looks like me. (As scary as that is). And then there is the stupid sense of humor.

More importantly, a child is a reflection on their parent’s inner person. I’ve seen spoiled selfish children whose parents have not paid attention to them and the exact opposite. This may seem contradictory but the reflection is not on the manner that the parents use to raise the child but more on the parent’s inner self. I see myself in my daughter’s eyes. Granted I was a victim of bad parenting and I’ve made my own mother cry but what I see is myself without the experiences and problems that I have today. She is a clean slate that has all of the good in me and none of the bad.

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