Sparked off a discussion on the Lyst about Avon and Cally having a child, my mind wandered to what kind of parents the crew would make.
I can't see any of them wanting to raise kids on the Lib, but supposing they'd succeeded in defeating the Federation and found a nice safe planet somewhere...
Blake
Probably he'd be terribly broody during the pregnancy and make himself a right nuisance at the delivery. Would smother the kid in good intentions but make a good father I think, though rather overprotective. He'd try and do everything right and worry horribly every time the kid was out of his sight. The kid would either turn out just like dad or completely opposite and be a right monster and go join a 'Bring back the Federation' group or something, at which point Blake would be horribly disappointed and be incredibly reasonable and comforting to the kid trying to understand why he'd do such a thing. Somehow I see him with an only child.
Avon
Would keep himself aloof from the pregnancy and delivery, though he'd do a lot of reading up on it and offer advice until his partner was ready to smack him one for telling her what she ought to be doing. Would like to leave the bulk of the baby-changing, feeding, getting up in the middle of the night to his partner and only reluctantly get involved. Would have high expectations of the child and be rather demanding. Takes responsibility very seriously so would be protective and do his best to make sure the kid had everything it needed. Would be undemonstrative and the kid could well not realise that dad really was concerned.
Vila
Talks several times during the series about having kids and I can see him with a lot of them. Would hover nervously outside during the delivery and ask twenty questions of anyone involved. Would be perfectly happy to spend loads and loads of time looking after and playing with and showing the kids stuff. Would make even more mess than the kids with toys and finger-paints and hopefully have a tolerant partner who'd complain and make him clean it up, but without getting cross with him. Wouldn't be too overprotective, but would probably spoil them rotten. The kids would probably turn out more well balanced than most of the rest of the crew's offspring.
Gan
Would be calm and supportive during the pregnancy and delivery. Would not complain while his partner moans about morning sickness and back ache and odd cravings or when she screams and swears and tries to break his hand during the delivery. Would be ever so cautious and gentle with the baby. Like Blake he'd be a very well intentioned, conscientious father and do his best to instill an strong sense of right and wrong into the kids, but I think he'd be less over protective and probably do a better job as a result.
Jenna
Would insist throughout the pregnancy that she was perfectly capable of doing anything whatsoever that she wanted and would have to be pretty much forced at gunpoint into resting and taking it easy. Wouldn't have bothered with the 'finding a nice safe planet' bit and would end up going into labour at the most awkward moment between planets. Would swear a blue streak during the delivery. Would insist she could work and raise the kid and it'd end up growing up on a series of spacecraft. Wouldn't go out of her way to teach the kid moral values or useful skills, but would involved it in the daily activity of the ship and teach by example. Wouldn't bother with being over protective, instead teaching the kid to look after itself. Would teach a daughter fifty creative and painful ways to fend off unwanted male attention. Would probably stop at one child, who'd end up very like her.
Cally
The only one who really leaps to mind as the parent type and would devote herself fully to it. All the kids would be subjected to vitamin mixtures and odd Auron remedies for every little sniffle and have music lessons or craft classes pressed upon them. Cally would try not to be too overprotective but wouldn't always manage it. She'd talk to the kids about everything and always encourage them to stand up for themselves and their beliefs. Her kids too I think would either end up just like her or as different as its possible to be.
Tarrant
Would endure the pregnancy, delivery and baby stage and only really begin to interact with the kid when it started to grow up an bit more. Would buy expensive model spaceships and kibitz terribly while the kid put them together.
Would be very ambitious for the kid and want him to be just like dad, up until the kid crashed his flyer into the garden, at which point he would rapidly change his mind and try to convince the kid that he should be much less reckless than dad. The kid wouldn't pay the blindest bit of notice of that and would end up racing space choppers or something while Tarrant turned into a nervous wreck.
Dayna
Would do eat all the things and do all the exercises you're supposed to do when pregnant, then find somewhere safe and with lots of countryside for the kids to play in. Would encourage lots of outdoor games and buy the kids hundreds of hand-eye-coordination games to play with and ponies to ride. Would teach them combat skills as soon as they were old enough. The kids would spend all day scrapping with each other and climbing and falling out of trees and half drowning themselves in rivers. Dayna would be relaxed enough about such accidents and all the minor injuries that kids acquire.
Soolin
Would be driven to distraction if her partner was broody or fussy over her during the pregnancy and would order him out of the delivery room in no uncertain terms. Actually I see her as the most likely to be a single mum. She'd be fiercely protective of her kids and god help anyone who tried to harm them. She wouldn't be clingy and overprotective though, much more reserved and perhaps a bit too distant. She'd do her best to find a safe planet, perhaps a rural, farming community like her own upbringing before it all went wrong, wanting to give the kids what she didn't have. She'd be hopelessly bored with such an existence though and end up moving to a nice lively spaceport city where the kids would promptly go completely wild with the sudden change and get into all sorts of trouble. They'd adapt quickly enough though and be better off for the fact that mum was more relaxed.