Children Can Always See The Truth Of Things

I am stocking shelves when an adorable little toddler waddles up to me, points, and calls me “Daddy.” Their apologetic mother is a few steps behind, successfully scooping up her little escape artist.

Mother: “Sorry about that. She’s learning to speak.”

I am tall but obviously present as female.

Me: “Do… I look like her father?”

Mother: “Oh, no! Actually, we thought she’s been calling all adult women ‘Mama’ and all adult men ‘Daddy’, but there must be something else to it if she called you ‘Daddy’. Anyway, sorry about that!”

She carried off the burbling little person, and I smiled it off and continued my duties.

A few years later, I figure that little lady was on to something, as I started my transition to finally present as the man I have always felt like inside! Validation from kids is the best kind of validation!