A mother can be so cruel...

[Earth_First]

My son is gay...

Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.

I have gone back and forth on whether I wanted to post something more in-depth about my sweet boy and his choice of Halloween costume. Or more specifically, the reactions to it. I figure if I’m still irked by it a few days later, I may as well go ahead and post my thoughts.

Here are the facts that lead up to my rant:

1. My son is 5 and goes to a church preschool.
2. He has loved Scooby Doo since developing the ability and attention span to sit still long enough to watch it.
Edited to conform to DU's fairuse policy for copyrighted material: Lithos, DU Moderator
http://nerdyapplebottom.com/2010/11/02/my-son-is-gay/

[liberalmuse]

1. You sound like a wonderful mother.

I played Barbies with a boy in the 1st grade. He loved the girl stuff. He could be gay or straight, but kids that age know. It's possible your son is going through a faze and will be heterosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that), but you are aware and open to your son's needs, even if they don't follow 'the norm', and I think that's absolutely wonderful.

[Earth_First]

2. In full disclosure...this is a repost from a blog

reprinted without permission.

I thought that this was a fantastic story worth sharing...

[knitter4democracy]

3. If I'd been there and seen that . . .

I would've gone all alternative high school teacher on their asses. We don't allow that kind of crap in our school and beat it down as best we can from little comments to full-on mean girl/bullying crap. If a student had come on Halloween dressed in drag (either direction), we would've defended rather hotly that student's right and even rewarded the student with candy or whatever to make it clear that kids can be whatever they want to be.

I hope he remembers that feeling and thinks about it when he's older and boys start teasing each other about acting like girls (happened too early with my son, and his teenaged stepbrother didn't help matters). That way, he can look back and remember how awful it all really is.

[northernlights]

4. looks to me like the son is smarter than the mother

he changed his mind about the costume with good reason -- he knew the reception it would get and didn't want to deal with it.

"Then as we got closer to the actual day, he stared to hem and haw about it. After some discussion it comes out that he is afraid people will laugh at him. I pointed out that some people will because it is a cute and clever costume. He insists their laughter would be of the ‘making fun’ kind. I blow it off. Seriously, who would make fun of a child in costume?"

Seriously? All of his schoolmates. Half in front of him, the other half sniggering behind his back. And yes, the parents will talk about it at home.

And she didn't "allow" him to do it. Once he started to change his mind, she *made* him do it. A smart mother would be smart enough to support him changing his mind (and internally maybe feel some relief.).

He's five years old. She should never have pushed him into that experience. And once he started the hem and haw...she pushed him. What an asshole. Now he'll be made fun of starting at age 5. If he is gay, he's been forced out of the closet too young and will suffer all the more for it.

[REP]

6. It does sound as though she set her kid up so she could be self-righteous

The kid didn't want to get out of the car, but no, even though she knew what her son would face, she made him so she could be indignant. Yes, mothers can be bitches.

[Earth_First]

7. It seems that we both read very different pieces here...

Relax.

You can take off the defensive for a minute here and read this for what it is...

[REP]

9. I don't accept self-serving bullshit on face value, but feel free to do so

She used her son at her son's expense to make herself look like CompassionMommy. That's dramatic irony!

[northernlights]

11. agreed. nt

[Luminous Animal]

19. Little kids freak out all the time before something big happens...

Plays, chorus recitals, band performances... do you think parents should let them back out? Or should they reason with them.

[LisaL]

26. Excuse me, but isn't the whole idea for a kid to wear a costume

on Halloween is for kid to have fun?

[Luminous Animal]

27. The last line of the article says that he did.

[riderinthestorm]

48. We only have the mom's word for that. We really don't know.

The entire tone of the article is self-congratulatory and self-righteous. Of course it's going to have THAT ending. Parents oftentimes "see" what they want to see unfortunately....

[northernlights]

38. there's a difference between freaking out ahead of a performance

and having 2nd thoughts because your costume may make you *personally* the butt of jokes and getting talked about sexually by the parents. And if the stage fright is bad enough then yes, it suggests the performer isn't ready to go on stage. It's supposed to be a fun experience, not torture. If you force someone to perform who isn't emotionally ready, you can ruin performance for them for life. There are top performers out there who are so overwhelmed they're vomiting before they go on stage. That's a travesty and unecessary.

I also agree with the poster above about young kids being sexualized at too early an age.

Plays, chorus recitals and band performances may get you teased. But they're not going to get you into the kind of situation that this mother was so proud of herself for defending him against, after she pushed him into it.

But maybe there haven't been enough headlines lately about young gays killing themselves. If they can't handle the bullying as teens, how is a five year old to deal?

I was called fairy, queer and fag for years...long before I knew what the terms meant. To this day I don't know why. But I can't imagine pushing a 5 year old into a situation that could invite that kind of bullying for years to come...

[Luminous Animal]

46. My performance anxiety was a result of my fear that other kids would make fun of me.

And that is that.

As for learning how to resist bullying? You don't run from them. You confront them with a strong ally. And at any child's age, your strongest allies should be your parents. What this women exhibited was bravery in the face of bigots. In my book, that is a good role model. I'd bet that those young gays killing themselves were hiding their gender preference from their parents; thus, they were alone in dealing with the bullying.

My little brother was bullied. All it took was for me to find out and to beat up his bullies. I don't advocate that parents beat up their children's bulliers but, he was only 8 and I was 10 and I didn't have the wisdom or maturity to deal with it any other way.

[riderinthestorm]

42. Performance anxiety is completely different than forcing the costuming issue as Daphne

It doesn't sound as though the parent really reasoned with the child at all. From the anecdote, the mother was pretty self-righteous.

Halloween is supposed to be a fairly stress-less experience, not fraught with sexual tension FOR A 5 YEAR OLD!

The mom is supposed to help her child avoid those kinds of pitfalls and foresee that kind of tension, and help avoid it for someone so very young, not push it when the kid is obviously starting to balk.

[Luminous Animal]

51. It wasn't forcing. The mom clearly stated that she reasoned with him.

I see it differently. A mom is supposed to assist her child in having confidence in her child's choices... the bigoted mob be damned. I am surprised how many here are willing to let a kid give up because of what other people might think or say.

When I lived in Ohio between the ages of 9-11, my family was the only liberals in the neighborhood (unlike the neighborhood we had lived in in Michigan). We were pro-civil rights, pro-women's rights, and anti-war. We were very isolated from our community (and as I wrote below, my brother was bullied). Us children never backed down for what we believed in because my parents taught us not to and stood up for us at every opportunity. They taught us to question authority and to question the common narrative.

We moved to Delaware to even a worse situation, where our political stances resulted in eggs thrown at our house, my sister getting a bag of shit in her locker, and the three of us dogged with "nigger lover" and threats of violence on regular basis. Without a doubt, we were afraid but our home was our sanctuary. As my sister still says, 40 years later, "When I closed that front door, I could breathe."

[riderinthestorm]

53. I'm sorry but in my experience as a parent, "reasoning" with a 5 year old

isn't possible.

This is a 5 year old child. It's not a 10 year old. It's a very, very small child who may likely be exposed to years of bullying because of one costume choice that even HE was balking at in the end. The mom sounds very self-congratulatory.

This isn't civil rights, women's rights, or war issues we're talking about - this is a very small boy trying to dress as Daphne in kindergarten. I honestly believe the mom could have steered this kid into a better costume choice that may have been less of a problem. She CHOSE this fight for her son, even as he balked.

Please, also don't think you are the only one who has ever faced "tough" societal conditions, even as a child. It's because many of us HAVE faced those situations that we are wary of picking our battles when we can.

[Luminous Animal]

55. You are right, this is gay rights and how people react. And the only reason why I was strong as a

10 year old is because of the reasoning I learned from the moment I was born.

[riderinthestorm]

56. You know what, I'm going to play this card, I hate it but I'll ask anyway

Are you a parent?

Because at 5 years old, there still aren't a whole lot of things you can 'reason" out with your kids (heh, even adults): homemade cheese soup will taste as good as Mac and Cheese? Hell no. Batman is better than Spiderman? Star Wars vs. Star Trek?

I can believe that my trying to "reason" with my kids from the day they were born is why they have both grown into fine young women but that doesn't mean I ever really succeeded when they were 5. Unless you've been there and TRIED that, you can't really understand. I wore a ski parka 24/7 until I was 6. My niece wouldn't put on a pair of jeans until she was 7 (she wore stretchy leggings from Kohls). My older girl like Barney the dinosaur well into 3rd grade (trust me, I tried desperately to "reason" with her over that shit for years!!)

All this mom had to do was say: "that costume is too expensive and I'm not sure you'll be happy with the choice by the time Halloween comes. Let's look over here for some other choices." THAT'S what you can do by way of "reasoning" imho, and experience, with a 5 year old. Trying to force this young boy into taking a sexualized stance in kindergarten was unreasonable if you ask me. There are limits as to what should be expected (and coerced. Because let's face it, sometimes parents do coerce as the OP will testify).

[Luminous Animal]

71. Oh yes, I am a parent. My daughter dressed like an 80 year old women until she was 9 or 10

Stretch pants, T-shirts or sweatshirts, and Keds one size too big. She is 20 now and she bewails, now and again when she's looking through pictures, "Why did you let me dress like that?" and I have to say, "Because you wanted to." Most times she thanks me for raising her, as she say, "Like a freak."

You can raise children brave enough to weather the criticism or you can raise children that can kowtow to the crowd.

That boy did not take a sexualized stance. The bigots did. If that woman had had a girl who dressed up like Scooby Doo (a male dog), not one parent would have made a comment.

[Still Blue in PDX]

10. You nailed it.

Shame on Mom for not letting the kid change his mind when he wanted to. It sounds like she was more worried about the costume expenditure being for naught than her son having a fun experience.

If there is a bully in this story, it is she. :grr:

[seabeyond]

12. what it sounds to me like is we are really fuckin up our kids giving them our adult sexual world

when they should be having no part of it because it is just not age appropriate.

forty years ago, my borther dressed up as a girl when he was 5, 6, 7.... NO ONE thought he was gay. NO ONE had a problem with it. NO ONE did anything but laugh WITH him. it was not an unusual costume for boys to dress up as girls for halloween....

maybe, our children should just be fuckin left out of our obsessiveness with sex and allow them to have their world.... where this would have been a non issue.

[Maine-ah]

73. nailed it right here....

"maybe, our children should just be fuckin left out of our obsessiveness with sex and allow them to have their world.... where this would have been a non issue."

:toast:

[Luminous Animal]

16. It looks like the mother is building self-confidence.

Since when is reasoning with a kid, making him do it. A smart mother doesn't let the ignorant mob shape her child's behavior.

[northernlights]

41. or destroying it for a lifetime.

I've been "made to do" many things in my life. My mother swore I'd be grateful to her for it. I'm not. I was a gifted musician. She ruined music for me for a lifetime by forcing me into things I wasn't ready for.

Really, I can never forgive her for her bullying. She destroyed a large part of who I could and should have been.

[Gormy Cuss]

49. You're reading a lot into the blog post that just isn't there.

This isn't about forcing him to dress in drag every day. It's about a freaking Halloween costume -- the one day a year that children can pretend to be something they're not. It was the screwed up handful of adults with their homophobic obsessions who communicated that this was wrong, but that was after his mother and her friends at the preschool supported him. The mother is right -- those homophobic mothers were trying to bully her and him by extension. Screw them.

[TwilightGardener]

66. I agree with that. If he hadn't had second thoughts and doubts, that

would be one thing--full steam ahead. But he did, and it turns out she was more attached to the idea than he was. Now he will have to live with the teasing. I'm all for self-expression, but I'm also for allowing a kid to protect himself from bullies and from getting the snot beaten out of him. He sounds like a wise and thoughtful boy.

[Chimichurri]

5. You're a good Mom. Your son will grow up to be a

kind, well adjusted human being. Isn't that the point after all?

Good luck to you and your family. I hope the heartless ABC brigade will leave this alone and not make anything else of it.

Just picturing him standing there knowing what to expect brought tears to my eyes. Mom's can be cruel indeed.

[northernlights]

13. read a little closer. first -- she's not the mom, a blogger is

and second...the picture of him standing there *knowing what to expect* and the mother *making him go into it* is your image of the boy growing up to be a kind, well-adjusted human being?

Well, I suppose if forcing your child to grow through unnecessary humiliation and possible years of being taunted and mocked by classmates is what will make your child kind...then.

The picture brings tears to my eyes, too. But apparently for a different reason...

[seabeyond]

15. i might have talked kid out of it knowing how totally fucked up we are and giving it to our kids

the a 5 yr old would not be able to go in a costume without this shit happening. BUT... everything the mom said about the child hesitancy rings true with a child in so many situations and not just dressed up as a girl for halloween. part of the job is to encourage a child to be brave enough. it is a hard line to see sometimes when to push and when to acquiesce.

[northernlights]

31. she didn't need to talk the kid into or out of it...

just support him when he didn't want to go through with it. Knowing what he was likely facing and not knowing what the long term ramifications can be. I had adults push me into things I had second thoughts about as a child. It's a bad move, no matter how it may appear on the surface. Just because the kid toughs it out doesn't mean it is a positive experience in any way, shape or form. In my case, one experience meant that I was never invited to a party again because the other kids didn't want me there. So did it make me tougher? Sure. I grew up largely friendless in the neighborhood, too. But I'm sure that mother congratulated herself about her "intervention" too.

I agree 100% with the poster above who found her blog entry self-serving. She is far too self-congratulatory about ignoring her kid's second thoughts.

[seabeyond]

33. cant agree with you totally. as i said, i would have talked kid out of it and that would have been

cowardly parenting, but i would do it to protect the kid.

but all that is irrelevent for me. that is not the lesson of the story for me. that is not what pisses me off. that is not what is fucking up our kids cause us adults as a whole are fucked up.

[northernlights]

40. oh I can understand fully wanting to talk them out of it...

and I may have done so myself. It's been a long time since I was parenting age and it also would depend on the relationships I had with the other parents and what I understood about them.

But certainly, if I'd been supportive in the beginning and then he had second thoughts, I wouldn't have forced him to wear the costume. I would have just helped them come up with a last minute substitute...and probably been relieved inside, and kicking myself for not having the smarts to talk him out of it.

[riderinthestorm]

47. I forced my oldest daughter into doing something she wasn't ready for

She failed and blamed me entirely for it (as well she should).

We had a long time in the car on the way home to talk it out but it still festers for me and I know I did wrong. My daughter had the physical skills to perform (I was asking her to ride her Dad's difficult and tricky advanced level horse at a major competition to get the last few points we needed for a qualifier since my husband was sick). She didn't think she could do it. I really pushed her hard and she agreed but she didn't think she had the mental skills to compete with the big guns. And she was right. She was just a kid and I pushed her too hard.

Parents need to listen to their kids and when they are expressing reservations, it's necessary to back off and re-group. Especially in "performance" crisis. And make no mistake, this young 5 year old boy dressing as Daphne was a "performance".

[LisaL]

8. The fact that a five year old wanted to wear a female costume

on Halloween doesn't indicate anything about this child's potential sexual orientation. And considering the kid seemed to have changed his mind about wearing the costume in public (did not want to get out of the car) how exactly did wearing the costume in public make him happy? The child is described as being afraid people would laugh at him, did not want to get out of the car, halting at the door, but the whole idea was to let him do what he wanted to make him happy?

[Luminous Animal]

17. Do people understand what they are reading anymore? "My son is gay...Or he’s not. I don’t care"

[seabeyond]

22. it was a kid wearing a costume and all those people should be ashamed. the kids

should have laughed and had fun, but not had any reason to hurt feelings. this shows where our society has gone, what we are doing to our kids. it is sick

[mrs_p]

14. great post mama

i especially like: "Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off."

but i like even more: "If a set of purple sparkly tights and a velvety dress is what makes my baby happy one night, then so be it. If he wants to carry a purse, or marry a man, or paint fingernails with his best girlfriend, then ok. My job as his mother is not to stifle that man that he will be, but to help him along his way. Mine is not to dictate what is ‘normal’ and what is not, but to help him become a good person."

Bravo - you are my hero of the day!

[riderinthestorm]

18. Part of being a mom too is to foresee potential pitfalls for your child and take precautions

She wants to make a big deal out of "who would make fun of a child on Halloween in a costume?" but I would stipulate that the bigger question is "who would force their child to stay in a costume that's making them uncomfortable?"

I get the impression from the article that the costume cost a lot and she was determined to get her money's worth and set herself up as some kind of PC queen but she doesn't make herself look very good in the process.

[Luminous Animal]

23. Parents have to force their kids to do uncomfortable things all the time.

[LisaL]

24. In order to make them happy?

[Luminous Animal]

25. Actually yes. I used to vomit before chorus recitals and cry that I didn't want to go...

but my mom & dad would hug me and reason with me get me to the auditorium and once I started singing, each and every time, I loved it and would come off the risers beaming.

[LisaL]

29. Nothing like this has ever been my experience as a child.

If I didn't want to wear something but my parents insisted I did, it never made me happy in the end.

[Luminous Animal]

32. This is a slightly differend situation. This mom bought the outfit the kid wanted

and then reasoned with him through his fears when he balked. My parents knew I love singing, knew I loved rehearsals, and then reasoned with me through my fears when it mattered the most. If they had capitulated, I would have had to abandon chorus and I'd be a less confident person.

[LisaL]

35. My parents rarely insisted I wore something but I still

remember an instance I was made to wear a dress I didn't want to wear and how I was miserable the whole time wearing it.
I don't see how that build some sort of self-confidence.

[Luminous Animal]

43. Because they made you wear something that you didn't want to rather than reinforce

your desire to wear something but was afraid of what other people might say. One instance is undermining your confidence in making your own choices, the other is encouraging your own choices and overcoming your fears of following through with those choices.

[LisaL]

64. Somehow I fail to see how insisting a five year old

boy wore a female costume even after he changed his mind is one of those choices parent has to enforce.

[Luminous Animal]

74. He didn't change his mind because he rejected the costume, he changed his mind out of fear.

A good parent helps a child overcome fear.

[riderinthestorm]

39. We only have the mom's perspective on this

And she believes her choice to force him into the school wearing the costume was appropriate.

Frankly, I don't believe that's a good choice. Forcing clothing issues isn't the same as trying to help your child overcome performance anxiety.

As a mom, I know I would have been cognizant of the cruelty of children. Dressing as Daphne from Scooby Doo should have set off some kind of conversation AT LEAST about how determined this kid was to wear it, and the consequences of wearing it. And from the sounds of it, she wouldn't listen to her son's blossoming reservations.

[seabeyond]

50. see, and i always thought that is where i fell short. i never push

since little, i will tell them how i see it, i will tell them options, i will tell them how accmplishment will feel, i will tell them the lesson in it and ultimately i tell them, they make the choice, i am not gonna force them. it has worked out. but there were a lot of years i wondered if i did a disservice to the kids not pushing them.

[riderinthestorm]

52. In a post above, I write about the one time I really pushed one of my kids

It was a disaster. I've always tried to respect their limits BECAUSE we have such good conversations, just like you do.

My husband was so sick with the lymphoma but there was a horse he was desperate to qualify for a major international competition that would be held months after he was done with chemo. I really worked on my older girl to ride the horse for him. She was so unhappy about it - the horse was tough, and her confidence riding at "that level" wasn't developed enough (she was just 19) even though she'd been successfully schooling the horse at home that year.

We had a long ride back home (8 hours in the truck from Lexington). We both cried. We both had a chance to talk about how hard it was for us.

And I learned. Since we have such a good relationship, and we DO talk, if my kids say they aren't ready. Well, then they aren't ready.

:hug: You are a good mom seabeyond. Trust your instincts. Only you know what's right for you and your kids.

[seabeyond]

61. thank you, and back at you.

some of our biggest messups can end up being our best shining moments. how much you both learned. the power it enabled your daughter expressing herself. the knowledge she was listened to. can end up allowing her the moment she will feel most loved. all things, even the worst has a higher if we chose. if we chose, they end up being so very valuable.

how is your husband, and what happened to the horse.

[riderinthestorm]

63. My husband is 2 years in remission, my oldest daughter just finished her

archaeology degree in the UK, and the horse (who never did reach his full potential because of my husband's sickness happening at such an inopportune time - like there ever is an opportune time) is currently being competed by my 14 year old at the "kids version" of international eventing. The horse competed at the Intermediate FEI levels (and not the pinnacle: Advanced 4 star eventing) but with horses, they only have a limited lifespan for that kind of intense competition. By the time my husband recovered, the horse had a tendon injury and was laid up yadda, yadda, yadda. So many others have it so much worse. This is small in the scheme of things. I only brought it up to illustrate my point.

So it all worked out. My husband has a lot of young prospects and clients, all's well that ends well. My older daughter wasn't "ruined" for riding because of it - I hope it's because we had that talk.

But frankly, that episode with my oldest will never go away. Her desperation to try, try, try to do what I so desperately wanted her to do - well, crying here over it again. I put her into an untenable position and I deeply regret it.

We parents are so fallible. And the OP's message just comes across as so self-serving. The kid was 5 years old for gawds sake. Just a baby. My "baby" was 19 before I truly put the ill-fated screws on her. We need to tread carefully on this territory.

[fishwax]

69. "who would force their child to stay in a costume ...?" -- I don't see force in the article

[Liquorice]

70. That part of the story bothered me as well. The kid changed his mind, and

that should have been the end of it. The mom was wrong in this case.

And to post "My son is gay...or not"? What is she thinking? He is a little kid and shouldn't have his mother posting things like that, pushing him to wear a costume he doesn't want to wear, and then posting pictures of him in it all over the internet. I don't like the way the mother acted one bit. Her son deserves his privacy, and he doesn't need his mom making political statements with his Halloween costume.

[Codeine]

20. Self-congratulatory drivel.

Someone certainly thinks highly of themselves.

[REP]

45. Nailed it

[woo me with science]

67. +1 nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

72. Agree. n/y

[EmeraldCityGrl]

21. My four year old son wanted to take ballet...so we did.

When he was in Jr. High he tried out for the cheerleading team. I couldn't be prouder of the good man he has become.

You are a wonderful Mom. Children remember these important moments of support.

[Holly_Hobby]

28. In 1964, in a smallish Midwestern town, my 6 year old brother

dressed up in my turquoise bikini, grass skirt, mom's wig and apples for tits for Halloween. No one said anything, they laughed hysterically. I have the picture, but it's not scanned, or I would post it.

I'm sorry your son was hurt.

[seabeyond]

30. my brother did the same, about the same age... as a woman, in a wig and heels....

and we still chuckle about it. he got scared at a house, took off in heels, lost wig on tree limb. pisses me off we bring our adult world into the kids world so we can truly fuck them up

[butterfly77]

34. Wasn't this story on hln..

cnn's other channel?

[BlueIris]

36. This is such a great post. And how sad she had to deal with these

homophobic assholes.

[cynatnite]

37. Kids know what they want at that age for the most part...

My kid wanted to be a murder victim. It was a gruesome notion and I was reluctant to go along.

I noticed one thing about your experience...these are adults.

It sounds like the he still had a hell of a good time at the party. That's the point of the entire holiday.

Those so-called christians can screw off.

[lunatica]

44. That photograph is wonderful! I love your baby!

[HardWorkingDem]

54. The point about Batman....fascinating....

Very interesting.

Off the top of my head, over the years my girls have went as Spiderman, The Hulk, Wolverine and this year as Mario and Luigi. Not a word ever said about the gender.

[InvisibleTouch]

62. Yup, I caught that too.

In my experience it's okay, and even admired, for women to be interested in "male" activities or hobbies, but not the other way around. Which is why I as a woman have always felt that I had a lot more freedom of expression than I would have if I'd been born male. If I'm interested in some "womanly" things, that's great - and if I'm interested in some "manly" things, that's also fine. But it should be equally okay for men to love "female" activities and hobbies. It's okay for a woman to wear pants, but not for a man to wear a dress. Sad, really.

[Lilith Velkor]

65. Actually, no.

When I was 11, my mom forced me to get my hair cut short. I was constantly mistaken for a boy, so she threw away all my boyish clothing and I had to wear feminine tops and earrings at all times.

I had the word "faggot" screamed at me every single day until I grew tits.

[zen_bohemian]

57. I am divided about this one

The mom wanted to boost his self-confidence. When he him-hawed and felt unsure about the costume after all, the mother should have stepped back, let him listen to his "gut feeling" and let him decide what he wanted to do. She undermimed his "self confidence" by not letting him listen to his inner gut feeling that he would be teased,and forced him to do what she wanted him to do. She blew it on that one.

The other moms? I would have told them to kiss my arse 2 times :) (I am a lioness mom)

[riderinthestorm]

58. Heh, welcome to DU. I've often said I'm a grizzly bear when it comes to her cubs

but that damn Sarah Palin stole that shit right out from underneath me. Another reason to hate her!

Welcome!

[zen_bohemian]

59. Thank you! LOL agreed on the palin remark, I feel the same way!!

n/t

[mstinamotorcity]

60. The one thing my grandmother always said

out of the mouth of babes. It crazy a child must be in fear of being a child. To any parent of any child it doesn't matter no one should be bullied. And to people who bully: One day your ass is going to bully the wrong person and you will get what you got coming. You pick out children and people you know are scared of you. But you will eventually will run into that person who you will mistake fear as a weakness and discover their true strength.

[LoZoccolo]

68. Cool story, bro. n/t