I'm with you both (confused and Seagreen) on all of those things. Had never thought about animals, I guess, as they don't feature much in my life, but have always thought going to pet lambs, feed ducks and horses etc were among the nicer ways of entertaining children so that far at least I'm with you on that one! Was thinking about what SG said about nature, which I completely endorse - what worries me slightly (one of the million things) is that I'd like my kid(s) to be into nature and have an appreciation of, e.g., how food grows, and be used to playing outside rather than indoors. But I have to confess to being in front of the computer screen (though not the tv) far too much - and not just on MN! - and to being almost phobic about gardening (I know this is rubbish). So what sort of example am I going to set? I really don't want them to get into tv, computers and so on too early. But my DH is a computer scientist, and I'm addicted to my laptop and IPhone, so things are going to have to change rapidly to avoid this. I get all Victorian about the level of sexualization of childhood and children too - horrible dolls and clothes and underwear for kids, and making babies wear bikini tops for goodness sake etc.
I would really like my children to be independent too, but worry about this as I was the wettest child in the world in some ways (hopefully not so bad now!) and I don't think my parents were particularly smothering. Wasn't frightened of things so much as just quite thin-skinned at school and over-empathized with others. Would probably have picked my toys up, up to a point at least, though! I've gone on about this before but I think I'm going to find it quite hard to strike a balance between being considerate towards others and sticking up for oneself and being assertive. Haven't worked this out in my own life, let alone any child's!
And definitely books. I don't think any kid of mine would stand a chance with this one, as that's my number one favourite thing to do with anyone else's child (read them a story) and we have piles of books all over the place as we don't have enough bookshelves, and at least one grandmother will also shower them with books. They'll probably rebel and refuse to read a word, thinking about it!
Would love to hear more about our mums-to-be on this one. And what would your back-seat parenting entail, hp? Do tell! Volcanos out of baking soda and worm farms? I've always wanted to indulge my inner scientist (kept inner by being a bit rubbish at science in reality, sadly!) through a child.
God I sound like the worst kind of over-ambitious over-intellectual (ha!) pushy parent. AS IF. I'll be lucky to get them into the back garden fully clothed and fed, I suspect!
Anyway, this is all a bit weird as it feels as though it may be just one step closer to reality (though of course maybe not).
[Hurriedly stops writing and thinks about other things!]