So we're expecting a baby...

[BiggusGeekus]

Congratulations!

Don't worry about school. Worry about getting through the first three months. Worry about having enough diapers on hand. You are so far away from worrying about her being a geek that it isn't worth the effort.

For the record, my baby girl is 20 months old. I'm worried about her linguistic development.

However, all that being said, my wife and I agree that she should take martial arts as soon as she can. So if anyone does give her a hard time for being a geek, she can get all Trinity on their butts. That's going to be cool to see.

 

[reveal]

For the record, my baby girl is 20 months old. I'm worried about her linguistic development.

Trust me, after they turn 2 they never shut up.

Duncan didn't talk coherently until after he was two, which is normal as is not talking much at all. Savor the quiet while you can.

 

[Darthjaye]

More important than that is watch what you say around them. They will surprise you in what they understand at such early ages and then it'll pop back out when you least would like them to say it. As for them not shutting up, I don't find this a problem at all. He asks lots of questions at age 3 now (actually he's 3 in 11 days but it's close enough). Some of them are hilarious, some are repetative, most are interesting to think about again. Some of the questions they will tend to ask, are every day things we as parents will take for granted. Simple things become drawn out explainations.

As for reading, my son see's the gaming books I have (monster manual and the like) and plays with the mini's I have and wants to "read" the books they are in. Mainly right now he's just looking, but it helps to get his face in a book and want to understand why the toy/ mini he's holding is in the book.

 

[IronWolf]

Duncan didn't talk coherently until after he was two, which is normal as is not talking much at all. Savor the quiet while you can.

Isn't it funny! Before they can crawl you start wishing they could crawl. Then you wish they would sit still! Then you wish they could walk so you didn't have to carry them. Then you wish they were back to just the sitting up stage because now that they can walk they sure can get into trouble quickly!!

 

[mythago]

Mazel tov!

LoTR doesn't make a good bedtime story early on, and babies eat dice. If gaming is just something that's part of your life, they'll pick it up if they enjoy it.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Personally I know of no one that has attempted to raise a child at the table, so I can make no suggestions there.

Hey, that was me!

My parents started gaming (1E) around the time my sister was born... I would have been almost 3.

They played Friday or Saturday nights; they took us along, and we'd sit up and listen until we got tired, then curl up behind a couch and go to sleep. (Hard floor, bright lights, people talking and laughing. To this day, I can sleep anywhere. Contrast my girlfriend, who cannot sleep if there's a standby power light on an appliance somewhere in the room )

I had the 1E core books practically memorised by the time I was 6. I was raised on The Hobbit, Narnia, Prydain, and Piers Anthony (though Tarot and Bio of a Space Tyrant were kept away from me), and on Star Trek, Star Wars, Blake's 7, Dr Who, Robin of Sherwood, and Sapphire and Steel.

On the other hand, my sister, who was raised with the same influences, has dabbled in gaming from time to time, but isn't particularly keen.

-Hyp.

 

[Mercule]

I find the very thought of fatherhood positively frightening.

Heh. I used to hate kids. I totally freaked myself out when we were touring the hospital in preparation for our first (not exacted a planned event). We walked by the nursery and I looked in and said, "Hey, that's a cute baby girl." Let me be clear, in my 28 years (at the time), I'd never said anything that even remotely resembled that before -- usually just the opposite, in fact. After I'd picked my jaw up off the floor, I decided that such a comment probably meant that I was ready to be a dad, after all.

My daughter will have her 5th birthday in less than two weeks and she's already one of my best friends. To be honest, I enjoy her company more than pretty much every adult I know, besides my wife. (That doesn't keep me from being a dad first, friend second, though.)

As for getting kids into gaming, don't worry about it. It's a huge part of your life and it'll wear off on them. You can't do anything to stop it. We realized this about a year ago when my daughter called my wife into the living room one day. Mommy needed to give her a magic potion to "raise" (her word) her because the dragon had killed her.

This from a three-year-old. We spend a fair amount of effort to keep her from blurring the line too much. We don't want her to freak out the other kids at school or anything.

 

[TheGM]

Congratulations to both of you!!

I have three children - 12, 16, and 18. Gaming is just a part of our life. Early on it was something "the adults" did, and reverse psychology made it something they wanted to do. Not something we set out to accomplish, but it happens like that. Our son (the 18 Y/O) is one of the more prolific gamers in the gaming section of ENWorld, our 16 y/o daughter cannot get enough, and the 12 y/o only wants to play occasionally. That's all good with me, they're all well read, they're all well rounded, so if the youngest never really "gets into it", I'm happy that she had the chance to try it.

You've got several months to just survive. Say goodbye to sleep, say hello to sudden trips to the store, expect everything to be interrupted by a piercing wail that you cannot resist. The gaming thing will come natural if it's part of your household.

Again, congratulations!
Don.

 

[Mercule]

On the other hand, my sister, who was raised with the same influences, has dabbled in gaming from time to time, but isn't particularly keen.

Yeah, every family has the weird aunt or uncle in it. I guess that, in your case, it's your sister.

 

[DaveMage]

For the record, my baby girl is 20 months old. I'm worried about her linguistic development.

My oldest received speech therepy for 1 year since he wasn't saying the "recommended" 50 words by the time he was 2. Now he's almost 4 and he's just fine.

Anecdotally, I've also heard of children that don't speak until they're 4 or 5, but, as reveal said, once they start, they don't shut up!

My youngest, however, was saying 50 words by 18 months...

Every child is different.