Are You a Mommy or a Daddy?

Today was my oldest's Christmas Concert at school.  While awaiting the children to be marched onto the stage, one child in the audience turned to me and asked, with pure curiosity: "Are you a Mommy or a Daddy?"

Some may have been offended, put off, or even saddened.  I wasn't.  To the contrary, I would like to applaud the lil guy for having courage to ask what he is truly wondering.  Let's face it, most are accustomed to the idea that moms have a fair amount of hair and only dads have little to none.  Don't mention the breasts as being evidence that I'm female, I've seen plenty of guys that could make a Victoria's Secret model jealous of their cup size.

My reply?  "I'm a Mommy, but I don't have any hair."  That was it.  He turned back to see if there was something interesting happening on stage, yet.  If he had asked why I had no hair, I would have answered that, as well.  He didn't though.  This person next to him probably sounded like a Mom voice, maybe he did think it was a Mom body, but there was something off.  His quick acceptance of my response leads me to believe I'm correct in thinking it was the bald head.

I'm glad the boy asked his question.  We need to encourage kids to ask questions when they think something isn't quite right.  This leads to mis-information or lies being stopped in their tracks.  It can spark converstation.  It brings education.

Take care, young man!  I hope no one squashes your curiosity.

Positively Negative

A friend spoke of how hard it is to maintain being positive throughout their cancer journey. There's something we all must remember, whether the hiccups in our life are from cancer or something else:

There's no law stating you need to stay positive about it. Get angry, yell, curse, scream, cry, punch a pillow, tear paper, shred paper, do whatever to get the frustration out. Then curl up with whatever helps calm you. Read a book, have a bath, pet your pets, hug your family, make a blanket fort, watch a scary movie, watch a funny movie, kill stuff on your fave video game, or have a nap.

You are allowed to feel upset or down, or both. Permit yourself to be fallible. You may be a super hero to some, but you are a human, you can be negative, you can be frail.