My daughter in Kirk’s chair at the EMP Star Trek exhibit.
“It’s Hoshi! I love Hoshi, she’s my favorite.”
I was standing at the lone display box for Star Trek: Enterprise at the EMP Museum’s new Star Trek 50th Anniversary Exhibit with my nine-year-old daughter. She was naming the characters as their pictures came up on a screen, trying to say their names before the graphics spelled it out. It was my third time viewing the exhibit, but her first.
I fought back joyful tears several times during our walkthrough. Both of my kids (Nathan is 15) have grown to love Star Trek in all of its iterations, and seeing them enjoy it makes me really happy. There was something really remarkable specifically about going through the exhibit with my daughter, though.
I was her, once: an overly-enthusiastic nine-year-old who, once she found something she loved, didn’t hesitate to share it with everyone around her. When I was nine, I remember sitting down with my parents to watch the premier episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Neither parent had really been a fan of The Original Series, but I remember my dad telling me that they were going to watch it for its “Cultural significance.” There had also been a brouhaha because the Captain in this new series would change Kirk’s iconic, “To boldly go where no man has gone before,” to the gender neutral “…where no ONE has gone before.” As a budding feminist, this was enough of a hook for me. I remember watching the first episode transfixed. The rest of the family could take it or leave it, but I was off on my first journey to fandom.
Watching my daughter run to each display case with her eyes wide and full of wonder was a perfect reminder of why being a geeky parent is so special.
My kids have grown up as geeks. They have been exposed to fandoms since they were teeny-tiny, so they enjoy so many of the things that Rick and I enjoy. It’s truly amazing though, when your child finds their first geeky passion, and even more so if it’s one you share. Here is this small person, who you already love in the most profound way, learning to love something you love, and you can learn new ways to love it together.
My daughter is less likely to be ostracized for her geekiness than I was. Megamarts carry Captain America themed dresses, her friends all like Doctor Who, and there was a room of over a hundred people sharing her love for Star Trek. Parents who want to encourage their kids in geekdom have so many resources and opportunities. I encourage you to find a geeky community you can participate in with your kids (I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention here that GeekGirlCon is family friendly!) so that you can watch that spark in their eyes when they find their first fandom.
“Mom, why do you have to help GeekGirlCon raise money?”
This question was asked by my nine year old daughter as I shepherded her out the door on the way to GeekGirlCon’s first ever fundraiser last month.
“Well, GeekGirlCon is a non-profit – that means no one person benefits from any money we make. We have to take all the money that people give us and put it back to work. When we want to do more, we need to raise more. That’s why we are having this fundraiser.”
I hadn’t intended for the fundraiser to be a teaching moment, but her questions made me realize that teaching our kids about why we give was an important discussion to have. Philanthropy, whether it be financial or through volunteerism, is important to my husband and me, so it makes sense that we would teach those values to our kids as well. But where to begin?
Hey everyone and Happy Mother’s Day! Some of us here at GeekGirlCon decided to take the time to share the difference our mothers have made!
PR Content Producer Shubz and her mom on her wedding day
“My Mom is a fantastic leader in our family, and also one of my biggest fans. I have always been in the performing arts, and for every recital, dance competition, and (recently) gig or open mic, Mom has either been there or has put it in her calendar to come through and check out. I gave her a 1337ology article I was featured in for nerdcore and she absolutely loved it. Rap and hip-hop may not be her thing, but the fact that she is so ready to support and love the work I do is such a confidence booster.” – Shubz Blalack, PR Content Producer
“I never really thought about my mom having an influence on my geekiness, because it was always so obvious. What I did not really appreciate until later was that she was actually quite a bit of a geek herself. She always encouraged me to follow my passions and not worry about what anyone else thought. She also made sure that my brother & I saw Star Wars (the original/only three: episodes IV, V, and VI) and loved it when we recreated scene after scene verbatim ad nauseum. She has passed along two ‘family jewelry’ necklaces — one C3PO and one X-wing. She pledged PBS when we couldn’t stop quoting lines from Red Dwarf; and she’s bought expansion packs for Carcassonne, while getting all of her friends to play on and offline. Funnily enough, neither of us is a big fan of Mothers’ Day. It feels a little small to limit appreciating her to a single day a year. She is frakking awesome, and I’m so proud every day that she’s my mum.” – Amanda Powter, Copywriter
“My mom can certainly be blamed for my fall into the geekdom, and that’s a great thing! As a pharmacist, she instilled in me a love for science and math at an early age. But she did so much more than that! She encouraged my strange and unusual behaviors. When I stepped out of my room in a plaid top and striped pants, she smiled. When I said I wanted to paint my car pink, she and my dad took me to the auto detail shop. She came with me to see Lord of the Rings at midnight. These seem like little things, but when you grow up around someone who shows you she’s proud of who you are and what you love, you have the freedom to truly be the person you’re meant to be.” – Susie Rantz, PR Manager
PR Manager Susie Rantz and her mom after running a half marathon in Hawaii
So you’ve heard from us, how about you? Tell us about the awesome mom/mother figure in your life!
Do parents have to give up their geeky side when the kids arrive? Not so, say the guests at GeekGirlCon’s “Geeks Raising Geeks” panel happening October 9th at 12:00 p.m. in the Lopez Room at Seattle Center’s Northwest Rooms. A panel of mothers and daughters present a side of parenting often not represented in mainstream parenting media. Check the list of fantastic panelists:
Sharon Feliciano is the author and editor of www.ParentingGeekly.com. Feliciano welcomes geeky things into her life every single day. Her blog is a destination for geeky parents to find advice and reviews on comics, games, and geeky products. A Seattle stay-at-home mom, she writes about her experiences raising her kids and how being a geek parent is fun, cool, and helps raise great kids.
Carrie Goldman shared her daughter’s bullying experience on her blog A Portrait of an Adoption in November 2010 and soon after the interwebs buzzed with support for the “Star Wars Girl.” Katie Goldman had been repeatedly picked on in the school lunch room by a few first-grade boys who felt Star Wars was for boys only. Now, Carrie Goldman is writing her first book, The Littlest Jedi, an exploration of bullying prevention that will be published by Harper Collins.
My kids have grown up as geeks. They have been exposed to fandoms since they were teeny-tiny, so they enjoy so many of the things that Rick and I enjoy. It’s truly amazing though, when your child finds their first geeky passion, and even more so if it’s one you share. Here is this small person, who you already love in the most profound way, learning to love something you love, and you can learn new ways to love it together.
