Kids can be cruel sometimes

My wife was telling me tonight that our daughter has had some kids at her extended daycare at school comment on my boots asking her it i am her mommy or daddy. Of course she said I was her daddy to which they replied that only girls wear high heels. Now, the boots that I wear are a 2-3" block heel and always under my jeans (with the exception of one winter pair with a 1" heel that i do tuck the jeans in with). Never mind the fact that cowboy boots have as much as a 1.5" heel for guys. I'm sure the purse is part of the questioning that the kids are doing because they are being taught that only women wear high heels or carry a purse. Apparently people in the US aren't privy to the fact that many men in Europe carry a purse all the time.

Now, there are some that would tell me that I need to pull it back a little bit and be a little more conservative to protect my daughter from this sort of thing. I can certainly see their point of view but then I remind myself of a few things. Consider all of the children out there whose parents:

• are covered in tattoos
• are Goth
• Have piercings all over the place
• dye their hair all kinds of funky colors
• are the same gender as their partner
• were born with some major deformity
• are morbidly obese

Then I have to ask myself, how do these parents deal with the fact that they are different? They don't hide and try to make it easier on their kids or change who they are because of a few ignorant people... They get out there and educate those around themselves. They teach their children tolerance and how to deal with the rude comments (and it is really poor upbringing that causes the rudeness). Another thing that I try to remember is that if they want to pick on our daughter they will find something, anything to pick on. I'd rather have it directed at me than at her. I've been there and learned how to deal with it. I'm a big girl and can handle it.

Yes, life will be difficult for our daughter because of me and I am fully aware of this. But consider this.. She could be so poor that she doesn't have clean clothes to wear to school. Her parent(s) could be violent alcoholics, drug addicts or pedophiles. She could live in a war torn country where every day is a fight to survive. Sure, it will be a little tough on her but she will have it far better than she would have had growing up in an orphanage in a poor city in Russia. She will learn to be tolerant of others and to be a survivor. In the end it will make her stronger. All because her parents are a little different than the norm.

I'd love to hear comments.....

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