My 5-year-old daughter asked me recently why my husband's boss has a husband and not a wife (they're gay) and I explained to her that not all couples are men and women; sometimes men love men and women love women. And she was fine with that.

As much as we would like to keep our children in a bubble and instill in them our view of a perfect world, we have to expose them to reality. That's our job as parents, and no one ever said it was an easy job. Lying to them now to gain a few more years of naivety will only make it harder in the long run. We choose to not only teach our children tolerance, but acceptance and equality as well. These are the steps we take to a more peaceful future for all.

Jessica McGowan

Lodi