I’ve mentioned before that I have several siblings. Growing up, we were definitely individuals; there are many differences: age, appearance, philosophy, likes and dislikes. Just about every cliche group was represented: one trendy, one gothy, one blonde, one brunette, one cheerleader, one in the drama club.
Here’s the thing, though. We’re all adults now, and every one of us is an unabashed geek.
Sure, we all fit into some group or another in school, but when left to our own devices – comfortable, as adults, with all aspects of our personalities – the familial geekiness is undeniable, even if it takes different forms.
Naturally, I blame my parents.
So it makes me think about other geeks I know. Did they come by their interests through parental influence? Or are they in opposition to their families?
Here’s what I’ve noticed through my own observations: most of my geek friends, regardless of their particular flavor, have at least one parent with a related interest – say, maybe a parent reads light sf, and their kid eventually gets into LARPing. And while siblings may struggle to do different things to define themselves, to stand out, there’s still a level of comfort throughout the family with geeky subjects - maybe the whole family will watch a Muppets Christmas special every year.
I can’t think of one geek I know whose parents were diametrically opposed to them, or who actively discouraged their interests. But admittedly, my pool of data is small. So I want to know: are you the odd person out in your family? How did you stumble upon your geek flavor? And do you find being a geek is different as an adult than it was as a teen?
And if you have children, or plan on having them in the future, is there anything you feel must be introduced to your geekling?
About j
My dad is the geek parent. He builds and plays with model trains, he watched cartoons with us, he was the one who first exposed my brother and I to TV shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek. He took us out camping and showed us how to tie cool knots and make fire and pitch a tent. Dad is a do-it-yourself geek too, and was always reading up on how to make things. He made his own canoe and then modded it into a sailing motor-canoe. I think that’s pretty darn geeky.
My mom… not a geek. We had a hard time thinking of anything she was passionate about. She had a flower garden, but even that we didn’t think she liked very much.
They definitely exist. My father is a hunter and motorcycle enthusiast who is the walking embodiment of non-geek, and my mother just lacks all interest in all things that could be called geeky. Same said for my sister. I share many other non-geeky things with them (love bikes with the old man, my sister and I love bad movies, etc.) and they are not discouraging, just not interested.
My wife is encouraging but not very interested in my main geek aspects (tabletop rpgs), but I am going to be instilling it into my kids!
If your a geek, you will find a role-model. Both my parents would know what to do with a PC if there live depended on it. And I was already configuring the VCR when I was 5. To get my tech-fix I visited my uncle. 12km by bike away.
So there are non-geek families out there.
Ofcourse, my son is getting the full geek treatment. He’s been hogging my NDS since he was 2 1/2 and has touched more electronics than most of his age are allowed. I try not to “push” it, so I will have to wait until he asks about that DND thing every week.
I come from strong Geek stock on both sides, met through geeky things (that they themselves had come to on their own). Some of the guys in my D&D group come from non-geek households, though, and they mainly got into geeky interests through “pushers” like me back in middle/high school.
.-= Dave T. Game´s last blog ..YouTube Tuesday: Gray Pill or Grayer Pill Edition =-.
I come from a non geek family. I figured out electronics and computers mostly on my own. I had one (much) older brother who once gave be a big stash of sci-fi and fantasy books (he is definitely a geek, but the age difference is so great, we never geeked together). Our parents are definitely non-geeks.
My father is a carpenter, and my mother was a homemaker; when they divoced when I was fifteen, m father got married to a verified psychotic: she would hide for hours on end in the utility closet, listening in on my father and I so “she could catch us talking about her. She hated my roleplaying, said it was the devil’s work. I had to hide my books at a friends house every so often.
I think my friends are to blame; no matter where we moved, I seem to always have hooked up with the dreamers and gamers, so maybe it was in me all along.
My parents are not at all geeks. In fact, they actively discouraged my geek interests and my father continues to do so, despite the fact that I draw a rather large paycheck and have a girlfriend.
I was however, exposed to the Star Wars trilogy at the age of 3, and my sister was a big geek, and is now an aspiring science fiction writer.
My parents are pretty much as non-geeky as them come. My dad is a business man to the core and my mom is your stereotypical housewife that goes through hobbies and MLM business like water. My sister would falls into always wanted to be popular category. So the people who were always around were as far from geeks as you can get. (Now I admit my sister has come around to the dark side and plays wow thanks to her boyfriend).
I usually felt like the odd ball out (luckily there are a few geeks in the extended family). My husband and I look forward to having little gamer geeks of our very own. We want to play classical educational games like (OR trail and Carmen SanDiego) and get them into RPG and sci fi at a young age. ^_^
Geekiness is definitely a partially-inherited trait. My dad was into trains, which got me started. Some of my childhood memories include visiting the train station to watch trains go by and put pennies on the tracks. I’m probably more of a railfan now than he is.