When I was pregnant, my husband and I feared that our child would be the polar opposite of us. Our Alex P. Keaton, for those of you old enough to get the reference.

We're liberal geeks. We play games, we listen to They Might Be Giants and The Aquabats, watch kung fu movies, and would rather hang an original comic book sketch on the wall instead of a piece of art bought at Pier One. So, because of Murphy's Law, we figured on having a Republican, pop-music-loving (or God forbid, country-loving) kid who preferred to watch the football game or a chick flick over a good rerun of Firefly. We were ready for this, and promised ourselves we wouldn't try to force the light saber into our child's hands.

But if she picks it herself, well, then we're not going to stop her.

Baby's first geek came at four months after her Daddy went away for a week to the Game Developer's Conference. She received a plastic katana, something she wouldn't be able to wield for several months, but she still loved it. At that moment, we realized that even though we wouldn't try to force her into geekdom, we could gently lead her there. And thus the making of a geek began. I would like to share with you some of our methods.

1) Love and respect for the comic book. In the early days of book destruction, I would sometimes have problems with our daughter stealing whatever we were reading at the time. Key phrases at this time included me saying, "No, no, sweetie, Lucifer does not belong in the bathtub," as she ran for the tub with my graphic novel raised high, and her tearing a page out of her Donald Duck comic and gasping, "It's broken!" Key point to remember here – Disney comic books from the 70's have tripled in value. Sadly, it is cheaper to buy a mint condition comic book that's 30 years old than to buy a new one.

2) Love for the computer game. Our daughter loves to grab an unplugged playstation 2 controller and play when her daddy or I are snowboarding down the hill in SSX or rolling up terrified dogs or whining humans in Katamari Damacy. My husband has tried to let her play herself, but she's not quite there yet. She also enjoys watching me play World of Warcraft, grabbing my hand and putting it back on the mouse when I pause to consider a trade or tailoring project.

3) Love for music above and beyond Raffi. While she does enjoy Blues Clues and Dora the Explorer, our daughter had the luck to be born around the time that mommy's favorite band, They Might Be Giants, started releasing children's records. There is children's music out there that you and your toddler or kid can listen to together. TMBG just came out with a new one, in fact.

4) I'm breaking the "love" pattern here, but there is a key thing to consider. Geekdom is full of sex and violence and bad words, like a lot of genres. Don't think that wanting your kid to be a geek means you should expose them to the Powers comic book with exploding people and "fuck" in every other sentence. I also do not recommend any game with an M rating from the ESRB – the Teen titles are not allowed to show blood. But if you think that computer games are full of hookers and guns, tear your eyes away from Grand Theft Auto and take another look.

5) Regular Bedtimes. It's just good sense.

6) Perhaps the most important part – do not forget that you are a geek. Be proud of the fact that you are a geek. Your confidence and love for all things geek will do more in showing your child the wonder that is the speculative world than anything you would say. Ladies, do not put away the Doc Martens and Chuck Taylors when you visit your child's school or meet with pastel-clad mommies for play dates. Do not wash the blue from your hair and cover up the tattoos. Men, never be ashamed to say that you can't make the baseball game because you're introducing your kid to Warhammer 40K – and do not say it's just for him. You know you love it. If you show shame in it, your kid will wonder why. And be honest when you're missing church to attend GenCon or E3.

7) Lastly, do not push the kid into any of this. Kids are unlikely to be convinced; all they will remember from the experience is how you forced them into it, and will likely hate it just to spite you. (I am speaking from experience as a kid here, not as a parent.) The minute they say they don't feel like watching Star Wars again, say that's OK, let them pick the movie, and later have a drink and pray that they will return to their senses.