Family Planning

Tonight as we drove home from a friends birthday dinner, Duane and I discussed what a fun family they are, how open and "real" they are. The conversation than turned to how we would like to raise our own family in a similar fashion. Open, Fair, Honest, fun, and "real". We want to be the parents that are also friends to their children, but at the same time have rules for them. I want to listen to them and be able to negotiate fair rules, but also be able to joke with them about real things. I want them to feel like they can talk to us about their problems, issues and that we might be able to stear them in the right direction.

This wasn't the first time that child raising has been a topic of conversation between us, nor I am sure will it be the last. But each time we discuss our tactics and our hopes for our children I become more confident is our ability to be good and loving parents. We have both learned from the mistakes of those around us, from our own parents (all who love us SO much but were not perfect in some aspects of parenting), and possibly even from television (Can television actually have had some positive impact???). It's exciting and scary to think that soon we will be married and possibly starting a family of our own, and that we might actually be good at it. Now if only I could convince Duane to adopt I would be ready to see how well we actually do!