Pete has no idea that he and Peggy have a kid!

He doesn't know about the child with Peggy. He does know that his "parts are in working order" because he and Trudy were worked up at the doctor's office. Remember that awful scene where he gloated to Trudy that now they knew it wasn't his fault. What a superb twerp.

Many people are against adoption - they feel that it is raising someone else's child, that there is no idea what kind of genes the child will have, etc. Thankfully, many people don't feel that way. That it is true today as well and it's why so many people will spend 10s of thousands of dollars on in vitro attempts before they will adopt. Back in the 1960s, you either adopted or went childless. Being childless was considered very weird.

I think Pete made a huge mistake by making an enemy of his father-in-law. After all, he gave Trudy and Pete the money for their apartment. But, also on a professional level, it isn't going to do Pete any favors to have his FIL pulling his account - people will put 2 and 2 together. However, I also understand why Pete was angry - Trudy is supposed to be a married woman and shouldn't be having her Daddy run interference with her husband.

I'd like to add my two cents here, fellow Maddicts. Besides Pete's "working parts" being involved, so is his ego. I don't think Pete is a very secure person and if he and Trudy adopted a child it would always be in Pete's mind that it's NOT his child. He would probably think that everyone else is thinking that there is something lacking in Pete and how would he justify that? And being the kind of person he is, he would have to somehow make it known that he is not at "fault". Even though no one would really care. But Pete cares. "superb twerp" is a great description!

He was a second son and considered second best by his father who refused to help him and Trudy when they wanted to buy their apartment. Although we found out later that his father was broke but couldn't even admit that to Pete at the time. Like father, like son. Pete has to keep up appearances especially about his virility.

The rift with the FIL is going to be unfortunate for Pete, but he'll make up something to cover his behind. But it did smack of blackmail on the FIL's part. Trudy is still daddy's little girl, eh?

Chopin47 is correct. Adoption was a double edged sword in the 1960's. My mother was more ashamed of being without a child than she was to adopt a child. After the pressure of not having children went away because they adopted two children, my mother was able to get pregnant with three more of us! My family story seems to be a common one. Cheers! ;o)

Why I think Pete reacts to adopting a child as he did is because it would make him grow up. If he had a kid he might not feel as though he can have crushes on cute little copy writers in his office (let alone have an affair with one), and his marriage and life would be somewhat set in a path that he feels like he cannot control or like.

Just pondering here.
I don't particularly like or dislike Pete, but I have a feeling that his marriage will not last, nor will any further relationship with Peggy, who I believe to be too good for him.

And speaking of Peggy and Pete's child, whatever happened to it? Something about the state of New York not seeing Peggy as a fit mother?

Remember when Pete was talking to the Park Avenue fertility doctor? The doctor asked him a question on a different topic, and Pete's answer was all the reasons he didn't want a child.

It has not been the 'stigma' of adopting for Petey...it was simply that he would have to interrupt his life. He was only against it after he was sure he was virile. Then, when he knew he could pick at Trudy's infertility as a reason they were childless, he was fine. He could say he was against adopting and put the pressure back on her to solve her problem. He has now resorted to being bellicose and intimidating (and now chicken tossing) to get her to drop it. Trudy is more of a princess than Betty! He was going to make an effort because of his inheritance, but no inheritance--no need for baby. He told his father-in-law to get out of his bedroom---and take the Clearasil account with him.

I think Trudy will put him out of theirs, too. :)

Pete, for all of his sliminess, is a very conflicted and insecure man. While having a child would cement his status as a "man" among his peers, it would also limit and define him as just that.

I think his blow up had a lot more to do with ego than with the actual issue. First, he didn't like that a stranger (his secretary) was made privy to his domestic affairs. No one else at the office really knows and this is definitely a step into the privacy circle. Second, his father in law was brought into the issue as well, since Trudy very obviously knows that (because its happened before) that her father has some power over Pete.

I, for one, am very happy that he stood up to his father in law. It's fine to be grateful, but it's not OK for Trudy to undermine Pete in that way.

The incident with the chicken was definitely born out of frustration, but the refusal to adopt has definitely more to do with him not being ready, as many posters have rightly mentioned before.

It could very well be cultural. Pete comes from a culture where bloodlines are very important and an adopted kid would have NO Dykeman roots.

Pete couldn't stand the competition another child would bring to the relationship with Trudy, him being #1 child. Think of it as sibling rivalry with his own offspring, lol. And he doesn't want the responsibility; he has enough trouble figuring out what a husband is supposed to be, no clue how to be a father, especially as his own was such a a poor model.

Is it possible that Pete was adopted? I remember an episode when either his Mother or Father remarked to him something like, "we gave you your name"!! To me, that implies that while he has their name, he doesn't have their blood. Or perhaps, he is the biological child of his Mother, but not his Father??

El Twerpo Supremo of the Flying Chicken is trying to be the man in his own house - but the inlaws seem to be overturning him at every shot. They bought the place he couldn't afford over his objections, now they are trying to force him to have a child he doesn't want. Much as I hate to side with (ugh, shudder) Pete, I was glad he put his foot down to his father in law. Trudy will have some hard decisions to make.

Question:
Who do you think will win this battle? Why?

Needless to say, I'm anti-Pete and Trudy as a couple. I think It was all about maintaining "bloodlines" for them- it's no great love affair. Is it me, or does he treat her kind of businesslike? And since Trudy can't conceive, I think Pete is realizing he has other options that he's afraid to admit.

I remember back in season 1 he confides to Peggy (his brand new rifle in the corner) that he's "got all these things going on in [his] head and he doesn't know how to say them". One of those thoughts was obviously about not being with Trudy, but I'm sure he didn't want to further encourage Peggy. Either that, or he was just unsure altogether.

I feel he's insecure and has massive ego issues. Deep...deep..deep...deep down I'm sure he's got a good heart, but he can't help that he lacks the emotional intelligence to do anything but yell and throw things and generally act vindictive in order to get his way. That comes courtesy of his frigid upper class family...since he didn't have loving parents, I doubt he had much by way of a childhood so he could be considered one of those "adult children".

Also, remember how Cosgrove's lobster comment drove Pete to sucker punch him? Both the notion that he would sleep with an average girl (as opposed to a model or someone modelesque) and adoption are ego issues for Pete. He's trying to move up in the world on his own and relies on an image of success and privilege, so anything that shows to others he's interested in less than the best serves to knock him down in their eyes just a little more.

But achieving the best comes with a price, that of surrenduring his masculinity. He's not much physically (at least when compared with someone like Don), so he needs anything he can get to bolster his image. This includes extra-marital affairs. Trudy's father-in-law buying them an expensive apartment and getting him that Clearasil account are things he needed help with that give the appearance that he's just some spoiled brat who can't yet provide for his wife (or himself) on his own. Having to adopt will only add to his frustration.

Pete doesn't want others see himself as just another regular guy with a regular job...he has been "bred" to expect the best. Besides the fact that he really longs to be able to acheive success on his own rather than have them handed to him without having to work for it, inside Pete wishes he could be happy and successful in life without having to have all the frills he's used to.

He told Peggy about his cabin fantasy where he goes and kills an animal, prepares it and has a good woman cook it for him. So I really think he longs for simplicity but has no idea how to enjoy life this way. I wonder how long he's had this fantasy- it's so much the opposite to the way his life is going now. And I do think he has a thing for her but again, he can't possibly openly stoop so low as to be with someone middle class. He also envies her because she is living exactly as he could not- on his own terms relying only on himself and getting ahead in the process. Further than that (possibly in another thread) you could explore how Pete and Peggy's families are polar opposites and where Peggy rebels against her family, Pete cannot pull away from his own. But his standing up to his father-in-law was a beginning...

I also think part of the reason he was envious of Cosgrove was not so much that he got his writing published, he didn't have the chance to experience the simple life as Cosgrove had, a la "A Maple Being Tapped on a Cold Winter's Morning" or whatever it's called.

I don't think Pete wants children at this time in his life, whether they are biological or adopted.