I actually tried that one but it screwed up for me. Meh.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

So my girlfriend and I got into a bit of an argument about my daughter. I'm like you SF1980; I don't hold anything back. So when my daughter told my girlfriend that her mom and I needed to "super break up" (meaning divorce), my girlfriend said that she shouldn't know what that was. There are many more instances of things where my kid will say something, and the gf will give me that look, like "why does she know this...she's only 4?". I get this look a LOT when it comes to my daughter bringing up the subject of death (I'm blaming her outwardly AND overbearing CHRISTIAN grandparents for this recurring theme).

(I can deal with outwardly OR overbearing Christians any day, but pair the two together, and you've got some people grasping at straws to find a meaning for their own existence...)

I'm not a fan of lying to a kid, or even taking the short route. When she asked about my inspection sticker, I told her it was necessary to get inspected every year to make sure the car is safe and didn't pollute too much. Went on and on about the environment and how pollution can lead to things dying, and eventually she started saying "Will it kill the flowers? And the birds? And the kitties?". My answers were along the lines of "it's possible". Then she kept drilling down the species in her head (I'm assuming) until she got to "Will it kill me?". At this point, my answer was "I don't think it will get that bad, honey."

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Want a reason for human existence? Tune in at about 5:30

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I normally don't jump on the wave of celebrity rants, but I agree with everything he says in that clip, minus any eloquent meaning behind earth's coping mechanisms.

My wife occassionally is displeased with my level of honesty with my daughter, but she hasn't gotten upset to the point of argument. I hate the idea of filling kids' heads with feel good explanations that are inaccurate. I've found that no matter how difficult the subject matter (death, god-no god, bad guys, etc), if I take the time to explain things my daughter will attain some level of understanding without one hint of emotional scarring that so many parents are afraid of. She's actually surprised me with some of her reasoning and comments later on that prove the logic is setting in. Bad stuff doesn't seem to scare her much once she understands it. Knowing why bad stuff happens and how to prevent or avoid it offsets the fear.

When it comes to my kids I see my job (beyond keeping them safe and healthy) as pretty simple in principle. I want to raise my sons to be strong, sensitive and to know when to admit they don't know something. For my daughter I want to raise a smart self assured woman who doesn't confuse sex with love. (meaning i want her to be happy and loved by us so she doesn't go out there trying to find it with a bunch of dudes).

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