Here comes Teddy

Explaining sexism and homophobia (Thirty-six)

Teddy PoV

So it was agreed between us all that Georgie would visit Mum every other Saturday, unless he doesn't want to do it that Saturday, which was a start I guess.

So I was tucking Ro into bed, something that I did every night when she was a little girl, when Ro asked me something interesting.

"Daddy can I ask you something?"
"Sure Baby, go ahead"
"Why is it always the prince that saves the princess in stories?, and why is it always a prince and a princess that get married in the end?, why can't two princes or two princesses that get married?"

I had to think about what I said to Ro and to make sure that wasn't an 'I don't know' answer, since I knew that how I answered the question would kind of shape how she viewed sexism for the rest of her life.

"Um, well Sweetheart, the reason why it's always the prince saving the princess is because of this thing called Sexism"
"Daddy, what's sexisium?"
"(Sighs), well Rowan Baby, sexism is when somebody tells you that you can't do something because you are a girl, or somebody telling me that I can't do something because I'm a boy"
"Sexisium is stupid!"
"Yes it is Sweetheart, but not everyone knows that"
"Well then they're just really stupid"
"(Snorts), you're right, just don't ever call someone stupid in public Baby girl, ok"
"I know that it's mean Daddy, but it's true"
"I know Baby, I know"

I know that some person is going to think that she was too young to know about what sexism is and all that jazz, but if she was asking me the questions, she would've expected an answer, I think that in that situation, it would've been worse not to answer her question, so I answered it.

"Daddy"
"Yes Sweetheart?"
"You haven't answered my second question yet?"
"That's a little bit more for me complicated to answer for you Darling, but I'll explain it in the best way that I can, ok"
"Ok Daddy"

I braced myself to actually properly explain it to my daughter, (because I didn't want to fuck it up, ya know).

"The reason it's always a prince and a princess that get married is because there's a thing called Homophobia, which means that there's people in the world who believe that a marriage should be between a prince and a princess and that a prince shouldn't be able marry a prince and a princess shouldn't be able marry a princess"
"But that's mean Daddy"
"I know it is Baby girl, but hopefully someday they'll change they're minds"
"But why would they have a rule like that in the first place?"
"Because they're idiots"
"That's the nice version of you want to say, isn't it?"
"Yeah Baby it is, but calling people names won't change their minds"
"Is that why Uncle Georgie came to live with us?"

I was stunned that Ro had figured that out, because she wasn't even in the room when Georgie told me about him getting kicked out, but she was a smart kid, (she still is a smart kid).

"It might be Tesoro"
"Your parents are mean Daddy"
"I know they are Baby, I know, but we can't change their minds, because they're far too stubborn for that to happen-"
"What's stubborn?"
"Stubborn is when someone that is stuck in their ways Sweetheart, so all we can do for Uncle Georgie is to tell him that we love him very, very much"
"And give him lots of cuddles"
"(Chuckles), yeah Baby, that too"
"Is that why we see your Auntie Rebecca more?"
"Yeah Bambina, it is"
"I love you Daddy"
"I love you too Baby"
"I love you more"
"I love you most"
"Smartie pants"
"(Snorts), don't let the bed bugs bites Sweetheart, ok?"
"But I can't control the bed bugs Daddy"
"Now who's the Smartie pants?"
"I get it from you"
"I can't argue with that Buba, since you are current in the situation"
"Good night Daddy"
"Good night Sweetheart"

I turned off Ro's light, closed her door until only a little bit of it was still open, then I went and sat on the couch, since I was bored.

Georgie came in about an hour later, looking about as bored as I felt, then he sat next to me.

"Hey kiddo, you ok?"
"I don't know"
"Ok, do you want a hug?"
"Yeah, please Teddy"
"Come here Georgie"

So I hugged him as tightly as I could, knowing that he needed that kind of hug that day.

"You know Teddy, if anybody else saw you hug someone like this, they would think that they were hallucinating"
"Why's that kiddo?"
"Because they're judgey"
"That's not even a word Georgie"
"It's my word Daddyo"
"Ok then"