Brighten Your Day

Today we were babysitting two of our nieces( 4 and 6 years old). They start screaming in the room where they were playing while my fiancé and I cooked lunch.

We immediately ran into the room to see what happened and there was a small hairy scorpion that somehow got into the house. It's good they screamed because these things are nasty little demons.

So my fiancé runs and picks up the scorpion before it has a chance to scurry away.

Now what makes this worth posting: as my fiancé was getting the scorpion, the oldest niece said that it was good that he was there because "girls can't deal with that stuff."

So my fiancé (hereafter referred to as Alex), immediately asks her who told her that. She shrugged her shoulders and said that everyone knows girls can't deal with bugs and snakes (this is arizona, btw)

So he calls her over and tells her that girls are just as good as boys and that she should never think she can't do something because she's a girl.

She said that she thought girls were "supposed to be scared of bugs". He told her, "You never have to be afraid of something because youre a girl. You just have to be smart. Like when you saw this scorpion and you called me and your aunt in here. That was very smart of you and im proud of you for letting adults know about something that was a danger to you. You recignized there was something that could hurt you, and you got help. You are every bit as smart and strong and capable as any boy out there."

He held the scorpions tail with his fingers and held it in the palm of his hand. She started to look more and more confident and brave as she stood there with him.

He explained to her that as she grows up people are always going to try to tell her what she can and cannot do, but that she can do anything if she puts her heart and mind into it. He told her there are women that work with bugs for their jobs and study them. She got so excited at the thought of a woman being able to do things a man can do.

At this point her little sister has worked her way over to look at it too. So he sits there and explains the different parts of it and what they're for. Completely captured their imaginations.

The oldest girl asked if she could hold it. So he put it on her hands while he held the pinches and the tail and she held the scorpion in her hands. She was so proud of herself she talked about it until she went to sleep.

I'm pregnant so it just makes me proud that our daughter, if we have a girl, will grow up with a father that believes in her.