Now I am sincerely sorry for ever telling my kids to ignore a sibling’s teasing because “You know what they’re saying is not real.”

I wish now I had instead used the time to urge the offender to “practice telling the truth.”

Because now hearing as fact what I disagree with– even when I don’t feel deceived by it– feels like an assault on already embattled walls, and that from a side that was supposed to be safe.

And when a little person is little, I’m thinking now that a blue sky being blue is not something s/he should have to defend.

It doesn’t set a healthy precedent.