Dreams

As parents, we are all conditioned to foster our children's dreams. This is good because without aspirations it is difficult to achieve any goals. Yes, we want our kids to "dream big." Mine certainly do,
My boys' current aspirations can be divided into five categories. Dreams about physical characteristics, dreams about higher education, dreams about future occupations, dreams about future houses, and dreams about their future personal lives are preeminent in my boys' thoughts about their destinies.
When it comes to dreams regarding physical characteristics, my boys 'dream big,' literally. Frequently, my older boy talks about his height when he's older. We've agreed that being 8'4 (the height of the tallest man currently living) is a tad much, but my boy is really intrigued by Yao Ming (the center for the Houston Rockets). "He's 7'6, dad, but really strong." I've mentioned that he's frequently injured because it is not good for a human body to be so massive, but my boy is unconvinced. "It would be so cool to be that big, dad. I would totally 'baow' [he does a punching motion, here] anybody." Now, my sister's brother is 6'2, but other than him all our blood relatives are under 6 feet, so my boy's chances at reaching 7'6 are basically nil. (My sister's husband is a quite tall, but his genes will do my son no good). My older boy also likes the idea of being bald ("like Ray Allen or KG"- they actually shave their heads, but who's counting?) Here, his genes actually could help him (I haven't lost my hair, but my wife's father has). My younger son is not as captivated by height, but muscles, as with my older son, certainly appeal to him. Following his bath last night, he busted into the room in which I was sitting, and, fully naked, flexed his muscles. "Look at my muscles, dad," he gushed. "Look at my thin legs. Look at this" (he pointed to where he will develop pectoral muscles in about seven years). After this display, he looked at me very seriously and said, "and if I put my finger in my ear I can hear my heart going really fast." I guess he's not, yet, so focused on musculature that another interesting thought/comment won't occasionally occur to him.
The discussion of future colleges mostly concerns my older son. Although my younger son has expressed an interest in going to a college so long as he could still live with my wife and I. My older son has put more thought into college. He wants to go to a good school, but a good school with good sports teams. He has found that this can sometimes be a problem. "I want to go to MLT," he told me as we played catch the other day. "Do they have a good basketball team?" By MLT, my son was referring to MIT (he's more familiar with the initials MLT; due to Miracle Max from the Princess Bride, who loves MLTs -Mutton Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches). They probably have a basketball team, I told him, but MIT is not known for its athletics. My son stared at me blankly. What good is a college without good sports teams? his eyes asked me. He, then, asked me for a list of excellent places of higher education that also have good sports teams. I believe that I listed the University of Michigan and Duke. "How about your college?" my son asked. "Well," I answered, "we had an excellent squash team." He was not impressed. Not a very sexy sport, squash.
My boys both have strong feelings about what their future careers will be. I have an internal struggle whenever they talk about their desired careers because they seem to be unlikely destinations at best. My older son wants to be a herpetologist and a baseball (or basketball) player. He intends to have a successful show that he'll film in the off-season. And he's going to be a billionaire. The herpetology seems to be a noble and entirely achievable goal. The professional sports career may be harder to come by, but he can always be the first from my family. And a billionaire? Let's face it. This is really a stretch. There just aren't that many billionaires around. My younger son wants to be a zoologist specializing in insects (worms and rollie-pollies) and a ship's captain. And, you guessed it, a billionaire. Again, I find my son's interest in a scientific career laudable, but I worry that he hasn't given enough thought as to how he would budget his time. A scientist and a ship's captain?
My younger boy's choice for a future house corresponds well with his career choice. He wants to live on a ship (assuming the ship has an attached tunnel that leads to our TV room). I haven't, yet, explored with him the engineering struggles that would, no doubt, result from a tunnel that had to stretch from the ocean to our house. My older son's house choice is a tad more excessive. He has wanted to live in a either a castle, fort, hide-out or palace for most of his life (Although he was adamant that he would live in a "shark machine" from the ages of 2 to 4). The housing choices seem unlikely, but, who knows? If both boys are billionaires they can probably afford them.
In terms of their aspirations vis-a-vis their personal life, the boys are fairly united. My older son turned to me as we walked home from school yesterday and, speaking for his brother and himself, said, "we just want to marry foxy dames, dad, like mommy." That much, at least, I know can be achieved.