Lessons from Preschool

I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day as I listened to my kiddos playing nicely together in one of their rooms. Their stuffed animals were acting out life. "Grandpa, come here and make me some breakfast please." "Andi, he is not her Grandpa, he is her daddy even though the daddy and mommy are divorced."

Good grief, I thought to myself. Where is this conversation coming from? They went on with their conversation as if it was common place to have divorced moms and dads. For a moment I was saddened at the life their friends are surrounded with that divorce is common to know and talk about at school. Wayne and I made a decision on how to remove the fear of divorce from our family a few years ago. We are close to a family who went through a divorce and our kids began asking questions. We confidently explained, "Some moms and dads get divorced but they still love their kids. You guys are lucky because you will never have to worry about that. In our family we stick together. We will never get divorced." Wayne and I have been together for nearly 20 years this fall. Through all the ups and downs, it's been clear we'd rather stick them out together. It felt so good to give that promise and confidence to our kids. You could tell they felt good too. The both responded, "Yeah, we stick together in our family!"

So, back to the story...I walked down the hall to find out why the animals were getting divorced.

"So, who is divorced here?" I asked with a half smile on my face.

"Don't worry mom, they still love each other mom," was Tyler's (7) immediate response.

"Yeah mom," Andi (5) piped in with some facts from a friend in her class, "Lisa's mom and dad are divorced, but they still sleep in the same bed!"

wow. too much information.