Les Jones

News > Parents Avoiding Having Children on 6/6/6

While we were in the hospital this weekend having Natalie it was funny seeing news reports like this one about parents not wanting to have kids on June 6, 2006, aka 6/6/6. Funny because we didn't want to have our kid on that day, either. Melissa's water broke in the new hours of 6/3 and we delivered as the sun was coming up. Melissa's cousin Charla delivered the next day in Johnson City. It's silly, but if you can avoid a lifetime of superstition for your kids, I think most parents would find it preferable. But is someone going to do something stupid to avoid that superstition?

Years ago there was an episode of the TV show ER in which a Chinese couple asked the doctor to induce labor before the end of the (Chinese calendar) year. They wanted their child born in the year of the tiger instead of the year of the rabbit, or whatever it was. An emergency room doctor was indignant about it, but an OB/GYN was willing to accommodate the couple. His logic - he had couples who induced to have a baby before a vacation or business trip, or before the end of the tax year, so what's the difference?

I don't agree 100% - inducing labor seems to lead to a greater likelihood of c-sections, for one thing - but I see his point. And people certainly plan their conceptions to lead to different delivery times. (After having the first baby in September, we were very careful to plan our conception in order to have this one before the Tennessee summer heat.) Still, conceiving at different times isn't the same as delivering at different times. I hope there's not a couple out there who's having their child too early or too late because of something as silly and arbitrary as a date.

(Hey, i it worries you that much, use the Chinese calendar. According to this calculator June 6, 2006 on the Western calendar is 5/11/95 on the Chinese calendar. And it's the year of the dog.