Who would have had to quit their job to look after baby Miral?

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Voyager' started by Guy Gardener, May 19, 2013.

?

Who requisitioned 7 years worth of maternity leave?

  1. Tom?

    13 vote(s)
    81.3%
  2. B'Elanna?

    3 vote(s)
    18.8%
  1. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    (IF they didn't get home, which is what Happened in Admiral Janeway's original timeline.)

    She could be an Engineer but she couldn't be chief engineer and look after a baby. He could be a Helmsman but he couldn't be chief Helmsman and look after a baby... Something had to give and it could have been the baby.

    Sam got through it because Neelix was her boyfriend, and he kept their ship right. Since it's unlikely that either Tom or B'Elanna was going to pay for childcare with sex to someone who wasn't even their anymore, one of them was going to have to go to half duties or no duties.

    So who got to stay home with the Kid 24/7?

    Tom or B'Elanna?

    And what did that mean for the ship?
     
  2. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Surely there is an ex-maquis failing at something in the bowels of the ship who would jump at a chance to do full time child care instead.
     
  3. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Can you imagine the interview?

    "How many Starfleet Officers have you murdered with your bare hands?"
     
  4. Brit

    Brit Captain Captain

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    Or even a Starfleeter, in fan fiction it is most often Tal Celes. But think about this, if Voyager can get by with a holographic Doctor, they can also get by with a holographic babysitter.
     
  5. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    A holographic Tom and B'Elanna who shuffle seamlessly into the babies perception of normal life?

    First that's cheating, and second that's stealing a childhood from the kid.

    Why bother with holograms.

    Put the baby into a maturation chamber and sleep teach the tyke in a Unimatrix/artificial environment, until it's old enough to do simple chores.

    Do you feel like an asshole when you think of all the time you just put your children in front of the TV and prayed that they would stay there?

    Baby sitter, maybe.

    Primary care, no way.
     
  6. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I think there would some weird psychological impact on having a hologram raise your child. The child would bond to the hologram and yet the hologram is not real.. and any continuation of the relationship once babysitting is no longer needed would require revisiting the hologram just to reconnect to a computer. I like my computer just find but I don't have a relationship with it. Surely it's going to be a lot worse than finding out Santa isn't real to find out the person who potty trained you and read to you and seemingly loved you isn't real.

    I can't imagine this not screwing a kid up.
     
  7. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Body and Soul?

    Megan Galleghar's character was talking about how wonderful the hologrphic governess who raised her was, until she picked up a rifle and started fighting not just for holographic rights, but to over throw the fleshies entirely.
     
  8. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    This would seem to be the perfect job for Tal Celes.
     
  9. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Tal Celest is the most beautiful woman of the world, just because she's bad at her job it doesn't mean that she didn't spend 12 years in higher education to be as bad at it as she is that she needs to run away into unskilled labour gigs.

    (Her parents wanted her to work in space why else name her nearly a word jumble of celestial?)

    No one who joined Starfleet planned on being a full time parent. Part time sure. The problem being is that you have two Starfleet types who fall in love who had expected to marry a civilian to carry and nurture their children... Which is when Bigamy starts to make sense.

    Andorians marry in sets of four.

    The Books claim that that's because there's four sexes which are all needed to participate if they want to make a baby.

    If Bigamy is allowed for the aliens, why are the humans shit out of luck?

    Once there is no money and no property... How does the truly gritty Divroceporn come about?

    Spell check suggestions for what I meant to type instead of Divorceporn...

    Hydrocephali
    Deportation
    Uniprocessor
    Hydrocephalus
     
  10. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    wtf is divorceporn?!

    In the future there won't be words like bigamy, just words like co-spouse.
     
  11. Shatnertage

    Shatnertage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Tom stays home. He's got the medical training. He's also got the 50s nostalgia thing, so I can see him being a stickler for insisting in having one parent at home in his nuclear family. Since his wife would grind his teeth into powder if he suggested she quit, he'd gladly stay at home.

    Just turn the Paris/Torres quarters into a mini-holodeck and he'll play Captain Proton and Mr. Mom at the same time.
     
  12. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    You can add the word "porn" to the end of almost anything, which means that you achieve delight from viewing such a thing.

    But when a couple who is breaking up are yelling and swearing, and throwing toasters at each other, drawing a knives and he rips out her weave, and you start to get smug and laugh at their tragedy... That's divorceporn.

    Nothing sexual.

    It's when something regular metamorphoses into garish entertainment.

    ...

    There was an Ally McBeal about group marriage. One of the arguments against group marriage was that a cunning business person could marry a thousand people, claim them all as dependants and defraud the Inland Revenue Service of untold millions of dollars semilegally.

    ...

    I saw on 60 minutes this guy in Oz with 9 "wives" and dozens of children who collects 30 grand in social security every week... At least those were the numbers I heard a few year back... Point was he lived in a tent and the wives ran the show.
     
  13. Brit

    Brit Captain Captain

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    Of course in the future, just maybe you take your children to work with you. This isn't something new, I remember my grandmother talking about going to the fields with her mom and dad, all her older brothers and sisters (there were eight or so). Her job was to watch the baby, Uncle Ben.

    They say it takes a village to raise a child, and a village helps for sure. The village is Voyager and it's crew. I don't think anyone would quit his job, I do think that there would be people around to help. The hologram idea isn't new, but there is no reason that 12 years of higher education would be wasted on raising children either. Tal might just be the perfect teacher/care giver.

    I am a single parent, my Mother volunteered to keep my daughter in the day time while I worked, and she did so before my daughter was born. I remember being worried because I thought Lori might have been confused about who her mother was. My Mom told me quite simply "Babies are not stupid, they know who their Mothers are." And guess what, she was right. So unless you totally distance yourself from your child, they know who their parents are and no hologram or care giver no matter how good they are will take place of the parents.
     
  14. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Or Naomi could make a good babysitter while the parents are at work. Or those Borg kids.
     
  15. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I bet a lot of babies fell into rivers that way.
    btw in the books Miral has a Klingon hologram nanny.

    And yes, in no way would Tal Celes be wasted or her education be wasted taking care of their child. Considering how many crew they lost and how they were only staffed for a short mission I would think many would be doing jobs they didn't train for including ones below their training. What I'd like to do is pull raising children out of the hierarchical career picture. It shouldn't be below anything.

    This is true and you're lucky your mother was so great, mine would not have babysat while I went to the mailbox and if she had been forced to the kid would probably need therapy afterwards. I do think there's going to be issues with the person you love who is not mommy being a hologram once you realize they are a hologram.
     
  16. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Children raising children.

    That worked out great for Piggy.

    ...

    It's not a waste of time to look after your own children.

    But it is a waste of time to look after other peoples children.

    You have to have a healthy investment, and if you have an unhealthy investment in the child, then the parents should be worried and fire you.

    Someone who isn't an idiot, doesn't need any training to look after children. All additional training/higher education to look after children is technically redundant. But someone with more training is going to get the job every time, but someone with more training is going to demand a greater salary, so maybe the person who will look after your child for the smallest wage will trump the superior worker?

    If you were willing to pay someone a million dollars a year too look after your baby... You would expect to get your moneys worth, but if you're only willing to pay minimum wage or a fraction of minimum wage to an undocumented worker, shouldn't you be terrified that you are getting your moneys worth in dedication and professionalism?
     
    Last edited: May 20, 2013
  17. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    What's a "weave"?

    It occurs to me that people are always explaining obvious things to me on this forum.

    If that was the one from some years back they have all left him and made money telling women's magazines he was a twat. And now they get to keep their benefits for themselves. Kind of embarrassing to be the kids though.
     
  18. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    And don't forget the tv. The kid can grow up with a genuine historical brain draining experience.

    Shatnertage! Has the new movie wooed you back to the BBS?
     
  19. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    A couple years ago I knew a recent immigrant to this country from South Africa, he was a university lecturer. He rang me up one day telling me his wife wanted to go back to work full time and did I know anyone who would like to do full time childcare of their baby. I asked him how much he would be paying and he said, two dollars an hour. I told him a ten year old gets paid more to walk a dog :lol:
     
  20. Shatnertage

    Shatnertage Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yes, teacake, I'm back--I had a lot of work that was keeping me submerged for a while, but I think I got the best of it. Saw the movie today and had to come back to share my thoughts (I loved it).