First Comes Princesses, Next Comes Weddings

My three-year-old has been obsessed with princesses since she was one and a half. Apparently the natural progression is weddings. Thanks, Disney. She really wants to get married, even though she really has no idea what it means. 

Previously she asked her dad if she could marry him. “I’m already married to your mom,” was his clever reply.

While using the bathroom at a fast food restaurant, she brought up weddings again. Don’t you know all great parenting moments happen while your child uses the potty at McDonald’s?

 “Well, I’ll marry my baby brother.” The brother who isn’t due to arrive until mid-November. I figured I wouldn’t broach the subject of incest, um, at least not yet.

“You know, “  she continues in a matter-of-fact manner only a three year old can use, “only girls can marry boys.”

“Sometimes girls like other girls, and boys like other boys,” I suggested.

“I like girls and boys,” she countered, not fully understanding where I was going.

“Sometimes girls marry girls, and boys marry boys.” (Never mind the legalities of it.) I ventured on. “You know our friend, Mr. B? He likes boys.  One day he’ll meet a boy he loves, and they’ll get married.”

I could see the gears in her brain processing this nugget of information.  She looked a bit confused. “But what will they wear? Will there be a flower girl or a ring boy?” Gotta love the mind of a 3 year old. All she cares about is if she can the flower girl in somebody’s, anybody’s wedding.

Before we became parents, my husband and I spent almost 10 years working in the theatre. As you know, the entertainment field has a higher ratio of gays than most industries. We have good friends who are gay that we hang out with regularly. We don’t point out to her the fact that these particular people are gay, but I want her to grow up with an open mind. Start them while they’re young, right?

So that’s how I came to talk to my pre-schooler about sexual orientation in the bathroom of a McDonald’s. Yet all she worried about was what the grooms would wear. I have no idea what our friend B and his future groom would wear to their wedding, but you know they’ll look fabulous!

Photo via cakebreak

An original DC Metro Moms post.

When Thien-Kim isn’t broadening her child’s mind in the bathroom of McDonald’s, she’s over at Passion and Art.