Do they really only retain 10%?

The other day the girls and I were just chatting as we're headed to the zoo when Brooklynn starts talking about families and mommies and daddies.  Then, from out of nowhere, she says, "Well, boys can marry boys and girls can marry girls."  I stopped dead in my tracks!  For me, it was a proud moment.  Although we've talked about it before I never thought she was actually listening.  I mean, I'm pretty sure she only hears about 10% of what I say.  I calmly reassured her she was right, but in my heart I was super proud of her.

Fast forward a couple weeks.  Uncle Andy is babysitting the girls, and Chandler walks up to him and says, "Sometimes boys marry boys and girls marry girls.  I don't know why, but they do."  Of course Andy started laughing not knowing where this randomness came from.  When he told me, again, super proud of my girls!

When I student taught at Rishel Middle School in DPS, they had a LGBT group that was started by one male student there.  I remember how surprised I was to see that in a middle school, and especially a school riddled with gangs.  My first reaction was to feel sorry for this kid and all the scrutiny he must've faced on a daily basis.  Now as I look back, I think of him as a brave kid, who had the right idea.  We shouldn't "hide the issue under the rug", even with our kids.  It's amazing to me that we could potentially live in a society where kids feel comfortable to express who they are without embarrassment.

As a parent it's easy to feel overwhelmed with everything we have to teach our kids - the ABCs, how to count, how to share, etc.  Of course this is all important, but the most important thing we can teach them is acceptance and kindness.  It's important they be who they are meant to be and we all accept them for that!