Being a father is a lot of fun. My son Christian gives me more pleasure than I had ever imagined. He's just at the age now where everything is new to him and because of this I get to see a lot of new things, too.
There are a lot of things that I'd like Christian to have when he grows up, but the most important one I can think of right now is for him to have the freedom to be and do anything he wants in life. I know a lot of people that that it's weird to be an entertainer with long hair, but since I think it's groovy, it doesn't matter to me so much what other people think.
I want Christian to have this same opportunity. As far as I'm concerned, he can grow up to be anything he wants to as long as he lives an honest life. My wife, Phllis, feels this way too.
As far as discipling him goes, I'll leave that pretty much to my wife, but I don't think he's going to need so much discipline if he gets lots of love from both of us as parents.
So many people keep asking me if I don't think that kids of today are pretty out-of-it and undisciplined. When I hear this, it really disturbs me because I think kids today are more with it than any generation so far. They think a lot more about issues and want to grow up faster. I think this is a good sign, not a bad one. I hope my son is even more mature as a teenager than teens are today. I think this is all to the good.
And as far as fans are concerned, I've yet to meet one who wasn't polite and well mannered. The ones who usually get close enough to talk to use always have interesting things to say and seem to be very smart. I like to talk to them, even though sometimes I might not show it.
Once in awhile a fan will get ahold of my telephone number and call me up. When I get on the phone the fans are always very polite and try to take up as litle of my time as possible. They are quite considerate and I appreciate this. They always ask me interesting questions and in a way they make me feel more responsible now that I'm an entertainer. Every day something new happens to me that makes me very pleased and proud to be a Monkee.