Story time:
I started taking my kid skiing when he was six, the drive is about 45 mins each way so after the second of third trip he asked me to tell him a story while in the car.
I started telling him all stories I knew but sooner than later ran out, so I started summarizing books and movies I had seen and at some point The Imitation Game came up.
My son was amazed how this man, through just intelligence and dedication was able to accomplish so much. The story stuck with him and a few days later he asked me, in front of his 4 year old sister, what award was given to Turing for such a big accomplishment.
Without thinking ahead, my sarcastic ass just blurted out, "well, the gov discovered he was gay and threw him in jail". To this, my son follows up with "what's gay?"
So I straightened my thoughts a bit not to fumble this one and said, in the most neutral tone I can muster, "usually boys like girls and girls like boys, but sometimes boys like boys and girls like girls, and that is called being gay"
My son think about this for like 5 seconds and then replies "that's not something to go to jail for!" and my daughter completes "jail is for people that are dangerous to other people"
Right then and there I knew we are definitely not born the horrible people we sometimes become... it is ALL taught and learned through life. The best shot I have to make a difference in the world is to not screw up my kids.
PS: ski story time had continued until today. I now have to read new books to tell while we go skiing or any other long road trip. I really love it and it had turned my kids into big readers... specially my daughter who has almost turned into The Paper
