all over the map

Motherhood takes to places you never thought you'd go (discussion-wise) and... places you never thought you'd go.....

Case in point: On the silly side, my 3 yr old came to me in all seriousness the other day and told me that the "fairy princess has frostbite!!! What are we going to do???" I have to admit - I had no idea. How do you treat an invisible fairy princess for frostbite? I was definitely unprepared. There is nothing in the parenting handbook for this.

On the more real side, my sister just had a beautiful baby boy and as I was telling the kids were going to go visit them in the hospital, and the hospital behavior I expect while we are there.... my son (6) interrupts with - "Where does the baby come out - that's what I want to know..." And so it begins.... I did in fact give an almost accurate answer that is true, yet vague enough for a six year old boy. Wow. I mean, I want to tell the truth, but I don't want him to freak out with the actual truth of information. So... vague was the word of the day. It worked. He was completely satisfied with what I said. I on the other hand couldn't wait to tell his daddy the conversation. The best part - when I finished explaining - was when my son said, "I thought that was what happened!!"

Then on to the most serious/frustrating: This morning my son said some kid at school told him that sometimes boys marry boys. I know! I know!! ARRGH - dumb society. I am so ticked. We were talking about Valentine's day coming up, and the party at school tomorrow and he wants this cute girl to be his Valentine. (he has liked her since K last year... awwww)
Anyway, he says that boy-marry-boy thing and I immediately went into how "silly" and wrong that is. (I don't view being gay as silly, but I have very young kids in the car. I try to keep it light - yet real and serious.) I explain that God created us to be a certain way. God created us to eat food - not rocks - that would be silly, right? God made rocks, but not for us to eat. And so... God made boys to be friends to boys, but not to marry. You hug and kiss the person you marry - just like mommy and daddy, but boys do not hug and kiss boys. Right?? Are you following me son??

Explaining this concept to my four young kids in the car on the way to school was interesting. I have to remember that anything I say may be repeated at school, and yet I want to not communicate anything lukewarm. We do not compromise. There are certain things we believe. Period.

So I go from fixing a fairy princess with frostbite, to explaining a complex distorted society to a six year old all in a matter of a couple days. The birth explanation suddenly became a breeze!! :) The challenge to keep it at their level, and yet firmly explain the truth is a tough one. But that is our job as parents.

My sister is in the hospital with her baby. It is not her first, but I was thinking about us with our first. You think about nursing, poopy diapers, the cooing, when they will start to crawl, to play with balls. You know that someday, a million years away, they will go to kindergarten. You think of Christmases, first birthdays, going to the zoo....

You never think about they crazy things they will be exposed to at such a young age, or health issues you never dreamed you would deal with... or any of the other parts of parenting they don't put in the 'manual'.

Well, take courage fellow parents! As my husband called to say this morning, 'you can do all things through Christ'! That is true! - no matter what may come your way today!