Head Lice Don't Discriminate

This is a crazy week but, then again, every week is crazy for parents. This morning, I spent a few hours at my daughter's school making balloon animals for 1,638 children under the age of 6. Okay, there weren't really that many but it sure felt like it. Tonight, my partner will take our daughter to martial arts class. Tomorrow, we'll all head to my son's soccer game and I'll yell from the sidelines even though I say (every single time) that I won't. On Thursday, my daughter will head to martial arts again while I nag my son to practice guitar. Friday, the kids are having a friend over and we'll order pizza and maybe watch a movie. The weekend will be filled with more soccer and maybe another play date. During all this rushing about, we'll also have to get gifts for the kids' teachers, do laundry and make meals. What about cleaning the house, you say? Pffft. Who has time for that? We'll be too busy reminding the kids to make their beds, brush their teeth and comb their hair. We'll mediate approximately 27 minor arguments between the two kids and will likely sigh heavily several times a day as one or the other does something unexpected or weird. Lest you think I am a complete curmudgeon, I want to say that I'm sure we'll also smile occasionally since kids are hilarious and lovable more often than not. Such is the life of parents. I know that there are people out there who judge my family, who see us as somehow broken, who believe that LGBT people shouldn't raise kids. This doesn't bother me so much as confuse me because, if you read the first paragraph of this post, there is absolutely nothing remarkable about it. There are no glaring differences between those words and those that might be written by a mother or father who happens to be raising kids with someone of the opposite sex. There are no lesbian balloon animals. Lesbians don't nag their children in a particular way. We don't make lesbian sandwiches for our kids' lunches or drive them to school in our lesbian cars. Okay, there are lesbian cars - you caught me on that one. Still, you get the point. The only real difference is that our kids bump up against societal norms that say their families are different than most families. As our families become more visible, this will change. It will take time but it will change because we bandage boo boos on knees, rock our children to sleep with a song, check under beds for monsters, teach our children right from wrong, nit comb the hair and treat the strep, take way too many pictures and videos of games/concerts/performances, hold hands when crossing the street,  embarrass them when they are with friends, wipe away tears, kiss them goodnight, cry as they reach each major milestone in life and a million other things. This is the reality and every thing else is fiction. The truth is that there is no such thing as LGBT parenting. There is only parenting.