Preference and other subjects

It seems that having a baby is a big thing right now. Perhaps its because I'm having grand babies and I'm paying attention. They aren't my very own babies but I get to borrow them on occasion. Having a child comes with all sorts of dreams, fears, hopes and expectations. One of the reasons why I had six kids is because I loved the mystery of the new family member, who would this new person be? When two people create a baby all of the likes and dislikes from generations on both sides come together in a grand battle until the right combination becomes an individual. I have been told I look like both of my grandma's on either side of my family, my sisters and I all have the same voice, and my 5 daughters all look like me. We expect our children to be sort of like us and like the same basic things. The truth is children are born with their own set of preferences pretty much from the day they are born.

I like chocolate. I really like chocolate. I'm not sure if I would be as happy if I didn't have chocolate in my life. I can remember sneaking into our pantry in Larchmont NY when I was little girl and eating the powder from boxes of chocolate pudding. Oh and I like it dark, the darker the better. I am pretty sure while I was hiding out in that pantry I ate some bitter sweet cooking Chocolate squares. I'm sure my mother thought it was mice that were getting into storage when she would pull out the baking squares and find the corners nibbled.

I assumed all of my kids would have the same preference as me and we would bond over chocolate fountains, cakes, brownies, cookies, basically anything covered in that dark heaven called chocolate. To my utter surprise even though I had offered them all sort of chocolate treats from a young age, by the time two of my kids were 6 or 7 I found myself searching for white chocolate bunnies at Easter time, stirring strawberry flavor into their milk, and offering alternatives to chocolate candy. They even snubbed Oreo's. At first I thought it was a faze but their aversion to chocolate got stronger in the teen years. How could this be? I raised all six of my kids the same way. Both my husband and had the same preference, we liked chocolate.

Children grow up to be exactly who they were meant to be. Some kids look like their grandparents, some will inherit a voice, and some will even like chocolate. When I look at my grand children I wonder who they are, not who they will become. Because once those genes have battled it out the perfect combination becomes an individual, who even if they don't prefer chocolate like their parents they can have a full life enjoying skittles, strawberry and even on occasion white chocolate, which I know isn't really chocolate at all.