When you start writing a blog called
Slightly Mad Dad then you probably have to question your own sanity at some
stage. In fact I do that most days and remember that I have to be slightly mad
to be doing what I’m doing!
Of course I get quite a bit of time to
watch my son play and grow on a daily basis. This got me thinking about the
saying “Madness skips a generation”, where it comes from and is it really true.
I punched it into Google and came up with a large number of literary
references. However, the top answer was from Answers.yahoo.com and went in to a
few people talking about biological and environmental factors and perhaps some medical
expertise. In a nutshell they said it was just a rumour!
With my background as a primary school
teacher I always tell my students to question everything they read on the
internet. This is exactly what I have done in regards to the meager amount of
information I could find through “my friend Google”. In fact I decided I needed
to do my own observational studies of my son to see if, in his case, madness
has actually skipped a generation.
Observation 1:
H thinks he’s a dog. If we see a dog in the
street or in a book or on the television he calls out “Dog!” sticks his tongue
out and starts to pant like a dog. It goes beyond this though. We recently
visited friends who own three dogs. When we arrived at their house H got
excited because he knew there would be dogs there. Upon arrival his first action
was to scream to be let into the dogs’ pen. Once we accompanied him into the
pen he pushed past two of the dogs (their third - a recently acquired rescue
dog backed itself into a corner as a tiny whirlwind of a human advanced upon
them) and knelt down in front of their water bowl and helped himself to a
drink. What could I do but take my friend’s advice, “We worm them once a
month.”
Observation 2:
I once went canyon swinging in New Zealand
and being a primary school teacher I did it by sitting in a chair and tipping
backwards over the edge. I thought that was a bit mad. H does this already! He
sits in his high chair and pushes back from the table to swing on his chair. I
found him the other day almost balanced on two legs laughing happily at his
newly acquired skill.
Observation 3:
H and I recently spent four days staying
with my parents. If it was going to skip a generation I wouldn’t be mad at all
(sorry Mum and Dad but it’s true!).
Observation 4:
He mimics his father whenever he gets the
opportunity. When I talk about personal grooming he copies what I do. When I say,
“I’m brushing my teeth,” he pretends to do his too. If I go to have a shave he
starts to rub the side of his face with his hands and make cooing noises. The same
goes for combing my hair. The worst bit is if I stop he looks at me, raises his
index finger like a cricket umpire and says, “One more!”
Ok – maybe he isn’t mad for doing this but
getting mimicked drives me mad. I guess now I know how my Mum and Dad feel
about my youth. In fact perhaps observations 3 and 4 say more about me?
Perhaps I’ve done nothing to add to the
canon on this important subject of “Does madness skip a generation?” In fact
all I’ve really said is I’m definitely a bit mad and my son is too. If I’ve
turned out ok so far and I’m having a good time doing it then I’m looking forward
to H continuing to be a little bit mad himself.
