Dad builds his kid a pirate-ship bedroom. Wow. I have to admit, that's pretty cool. Still, you know that the only reason this guy built that for his kid is because his wife wouldn't let him build it for himself. Life is inherently cruel in one particular way: when you're a kid, you have these incredible fantasies of all the cool stuff you would do if you had the resources, but you don't. When you're an adult, all those fantasies are inappropriate and childish, even though you could now actually have them. Occasionally some adult breaks the mold, like here. He's a huge pussy though, because instead of doing it for himself (like you know he wanted to), he churned out a kid so he'd have an excuse. Lame. I had lots of these ideas as a kid, but I admit that I haven't brought many of them to fruition. I decided that when I grew up I would get an Atari 5200 and every game there was for it, and, uh, yay emulators. Of course now we have WoW, so that's kind of a moot point. FOCUS: What childhood fantasies did you have? Have you achieved them now that you are an adult? If not, why not?
Fuck me. I want one of those now! And I love the fact that they have a knotted rope. In a day and age when most parents are overly protective it's awesome to see elements in there that could cause serious bodily harm. It's interesting, though, to see that the bookshelf has some very seriously adult looking books on it, and the clothes in the closet aren't exactly kids clothes. I wonder if it's just for the photo shoot, or if the guy built it for himself, not these "kids" he speaks of? How sad is it that I can't really think of any childhood fantasies? I know I wanted to be a pilot for as long as I could remember, but that was accomplished when I was 15.
I really dont understand this nonsense. So because some people are poor, no one deserves to be well off? What makes you think the guy didnt work hard for his money just like all the "middle class" people and played a better hand? People are responsible for their own lot in life, plain and simple. Anything else is woulda, shoulda, coulda, why-you-and-not-me bitching. Back on Focus: This thing is awesome. I also enjoy the fact that the entire thing isnt plastic and does contain a little element of danger as Nettdata said. As far as my own childhood fantasies, I always had wanted to be a fighter pilot and eventually an astronaut. I had pursued it all the way until college, when I was majoring in electrical engineering. I went and checked out pilot programs in various military branches and found out my eyes are simply not good enough to be one. I switched majors to economics and now Im an auditor, so dream fulfilled. Spoiler Not
When I was a kid, I wanted to buy a farm and fill it with all the animals they were going to euthanize at the pound. I haven't done it yet because I'm trying to get through college, but it's still something I want to do (to a degree)
I never had a tree house as a kid. My dad was handy but also worried a lot and he was convinced I'd fall out and break my neck. A friend of mine had a crappy platform that he and I and his dad nailed up into a tree (probably FAR more dangerous than a treehouse would ever have been) but I never had a proper, no-girls-allowed treehouse. I still want one. Only girls would be allowed this time around. If they're naked and/or bearing food. Realistically, I'll probably never end up building one. When I owned a home, I didn't plan on staying there all that long, and I'm renting now and for the forseeable future. If/when I end up owning a home again, though, I will again consider it.
I've always wanted to live on a farm, but never wanted to do any of the work or be responsible for anything. I'm currently renting an apartment one of the last independent working dairy farms in the state, so win.
At the same time, when parents throw ridiculous parties for MTV's "My Sweet Sixteen", nobody hesitates to whine about how spoiled rotten the kids are and how terrible the parents are for treating their children like royalty. I mean, the bedroom is cool and all, and it is slightly more permanent than a one-day party... but I can't see what's so different between building your kid a ridiculously expensive bedroom and throwing a ridiculously expensive party.
If you want to get all serious about it, I think it'd do a lot to stimulate the kid's brain and imagination over a way longer period of time. Remember the good old days when kids did something other than watch TV or played video games? This is so far removed from giving some sweet-16 cunt a 150k party and a car that it's not funny. Never mind the fact that this will make the kid a rock star among his friends at school, and you KNOW he's going to be seeing some tittie up in the ship, at a minimum.
I sent my folks a link to that story with a note that said "you never loved me as a child, because you never did something like this". They responded, "Yep, you were not appreciated and you used up all of our money. Too bad, get over it. ... your parents".
I just can't help thinking how awful it would be if the kid all of a sudden decided "you know what, pirates are lame, BUILD ME A SPACESHIP"
First of all, that is awesome. That kid is really lucky to have parents who are willing to drop that kind of money to make that space for them. Focus: When I was a kid, I tired so hard to convince my parents to put in a fireman's pole going from my room down into our dining room. Unfortunately, they never budged. As far as things that I wanted when I was a kid that I would love to put into a house of my own in the future, I've got a few ideas. - A small room (about 10'x10') filled with pillows. No furniture, just a ton of pillows. If this ever does happen, it will most likely exist in a space that I've walled off in a basement (or this), and will be used to relax and shut the world out (and sex). Ideally, if I can ever build my own house to my specifications, this room will only be accessible through a secret passage. Speaking of which... - Secret passages. Cliche as it may be, I've always wanted them. If I ever have the opportunity to incorporate them into my house, I'll have one leading from the back of my bedroom closet to my downstairs office--with a doorway into the pillow room, of course. - Which leads me to my office. I've had this design in my head for a while now. Basically, I want wood paneling all around. The floor will be made up of slabs of Kentucky blue stone, elevated above the concrete subfloor and separated from one another by about two inches (depending on the size of the room) on all sides. The only area where the stones will be flush with each other is where my chair will be. In the corner will be a stone waterfall, starting about halfway up the wall, which will flow into a small pool and then between all of the elevated stones on the floor, making the entire room a water feature. There will be a return line for the waterfall pump in the opposite corner. I'll also install an industrial dehumidfier so that mold won't be an issue. In addition to that, should I have the money, there won't be a door to my office, but rather a vapor tornado for visitors to walk through. A fog machine will blow through the circulating air between an upper and lower fan housing, creating (in theory) the desired tornado effect.
Whether or not your kid will become a spoiled brat has nothing to with it. The overindulgence of the Sweet 16 nonsense is absolutely absurd, no doubt. But then again who cares? I'd rather some people be spoiled rotten than be a fiscal drain on society. The notion that because this kid doesn't need his pirate ship bedroom, his parents are evil aristocrats and should be providing for others because of it is equally absurd. I would rather see people enjoying the fruits of their labor then try to legitimize economic jealousy.
The thing is, familiarity breeds contempt. To someone who's spent a life sleeping in a lame-ass normal bedroom, sure, this seems awesome. But after the kid's spent a bit of time in the room it's going to seem pretty normal to him. It's going to get messy, he's going to get sick of climbing up and down a rope just to get dressed in the morning, the secret slide is going to go unused, all that shit. What happens then? He'll start playing video games and watching TV like every other kid and his parents will yell at him to clean his room (what a pain in the ass that is going to be). Wonder what he'll think of it when he's a teenager. Not that there's anything wrong with stimulating a kid's imagination. But I'm not sure that building the kid a ridiculously expensive bedroom is the best way to go about it. And for that matter, paying some designer six figures to build said bedroom isn't the best example to set for being imaginative, either. Seems to me an imagination would be better stimulated when all of the work isn't already done for it. It's not that the bedroom and a sweet 16 party are exactly the same, but to me they exist on the same continuum. The bedroom is less temporary and will not make the kid a self-absorbed cunt to the same extent, but it still reeks of parents living vicariously through their kids and kids receiving from their parents' largesse in a way that will depreciate the value of money to them. If the parents are loaded that they could afford this room, the kid's college education is already going to be paid for. Not only will the college education be more valuable, but by the time he gets there, I don't think the childhood spent in the pirate ship bedroom will matter all that much.
All I know is that my friend's 6 year old kid is STILL ecstatic over his hand-painted wall of lego characters that his mother did almost a year ago, and still plays in that room and enjoys the fuck out of it. To say that a kid would get bored of having a FUCKING SHIP in his room, I think, is a bit of a stretch. It'll always be a fun place for him to go to get away from his parents and have his own space. Sure, maybe by the time he's hitting his teens it'll be a bit much, but until then, it'll be fun. I applaud the parents for doing some fun and unique shit for their kid, regardless. More of you cynical fucks have to go play more.
This. When he's older, it'll be some other awesome setup. Some of you are forgetting the parental concern part of this. If little Timmy has the coolest room / house around, little Timmy is going to be right here. His friends will come over to HIS house, not the other way around. So, he won't be over at Bubba's house, playing with his retarded father's* loaded gun. When he's 16, and he's got something new and cool, he won't be driving home late at night. His friends will, because he has the house everybody came to hang. *The father is not retarded for having a loaded gun - just for leaving it where kids can get at it.
When I was a young child, it was one of my dreams to be an interior designer. My parents usually obliged my meticulously planned out ideas once every few years and allowed me to have awesome rooms. -When I was 6 I had a Dalmatian room. My mom had bought this black and white spotted wallpaper, but I wouldn't allow it to be put up because I deemed the spots to be too bovine. My favorite part about this room was my pillowcase with a playing puppy on one side and a sleeping puppy on the other, which I was obsessive about turning over for appropriate times of the day. -I moved when I was 10 and decided I wanted a hippie room. The top half of my walls was neon green and the bottom was a bright turquoise separated by a peace sign border. To accentuate the look I had tie-dye bedding. -We moved again when I was thirteen. We painted my walls in a crazy purple, pink, blue, and green mosaic where each colour was surrounded by white stripes. All of the shapes were random and we even included my initials. All of that taping and planning out (two sections of the same colour couldn't be beside one another) must've been a bitch; bless my parents' hearts. This room also had its own bathroom and a closet that spanned an entire huge wall. I covered the closet in pictures of hot dudes from my Seventeen, ym, and Cosmogirl! magazines.
Hell, about 10 years ago the company I was working for built out a new office, and a bunch of us IT guys were on the second floor mezzanine. We requested a fire pole. The boss laughed, and signed off on it, until the bitch of an office manager ran it by HR and they said it was too big of a liability. We did get the slushy machine though. Don't ever forget how to be a kid and have fun.
I can't even imagine. I was so pumped when my Dad finished the basement in my parents old house. It was right around when I was 15/16 so it couldn't have been timed better. Having a place to escape from my parents, fingerblast girls and drink my Dad's beer was more than I could ever ask for.
I would have gone with the castle, personally. I always preferred the medieval Lego's over the pirate Lego's. Of course after looking at those pictures I can't really see how they could have pulled off a castle as cool as the pirate ship. Focus: I always wanted a tree house when I was a kid. The house that we lived in from the time I was 5ish until the end of junior high had a really long backyard that backed up to a creek that ran for quite a ways beyond that, we had some great times exploring that creek. Even better, though, was the at the very end of our yard, before the creek, was one of the biggest trees I've seen that would have been absolutely perfect for a tree house. Even worse, my step dad kept telling me that we would do it some day, which would continue to keep my hopes up for something that ended up never happening. Of course being a kid, my plans for the tree house were way over the top, even if we did build it I doubt it would have lived up to my expectations.