Parenting is hard enough without adding a layer of sugar‑coating and mystery. One of the most important lessons I learned back in my school system days was this: kids can handle the truth. They’re smarter, stronger, and far more perceptive than we often give them credit for. So why do we insist on wrapping life in cotton candy?
When my kids were little, I taught them the real names for things. No “fluffy” words. If it’s an elbow, it’s an elbow not a “funny bone stick.” That same philosophy carried through when life threw us a curveball: divorce. My son was in kindergarten, my daughter barely two. And when the therapist said, “We’re going to tell him straight,” I thought, Well, of course. He already knows what’s real.
That moment cemented something for me: if I expect my kids to tell me the truth, I have to model it. Sure, they fib, because they’re kids but they learn from what they see. And if I’m hiding big stuff, like my health scare last year, what message does that send?Everyone wanted to soften it for them: “Mommy’s just at the hospital because the doctors need to check her.” But that didn’t sit right with me. I wanted them to know what happened, what was being done, and that I’d be okay. Not to scare them, just to keep them in the loop. Because honesty builds trust. And trust builds resilience.
Kids don’t need bubble wrap. (Okay, maybe a little, our house has seen its fair share of stitches.) But they don’t need rainbows and unicorns either. Life isn’t always pretty, but it’s always manageable. When we tell the truth, we teach them to think for themselves, to form opinions, and to face reality head‑on.
So here’s my rant in a nutshell: Tell the truth. To your kids. To your partner. To yourself. Life gets a whole lot brighter when you stop hiding behind “maybe” and start living in “this is what’s real.”Because at the end of the day, two homes can still share one heart, if honesty is the foundation.
Two Homes One Heart 