The best word I ever taught my children

My youngest daughter had a project recently where kids had to draw their faces. Her teacher said the shape of her face was difficult to draw which led to the kids at her table saying she had a funny looking face. She is very much like her older sister who is twenty so it's been a while since I've had to deal with these issues- my middle two very rarely give a hoot about what others say about them. I looked at my sweet, little girl and told her that her face was not funny looking. I asked her if she remembered all of the people who tell her how cute, adorable and beautiful she is. She did. In my best Mommy Moment with her cuddling on my lap, tears streaming down her cheeks, I said, "Then the kids at your table are stupid." Ok, so not my best Mommy Moment but I can't stand it when any child makes another child cry, especially if it's mine. Later that day, she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I'm unique." That's the same word I taught my older two daughters when someone gave them or their friends a hard time. When they would say it to the person trying to hurt them, they usually caught them off guard leaving them speechless. It's become a power word for them. This morning I had to go in with my kids to talk with a teacher whose daughter is in my daughter's class. The little girl has been telling mine who she can be friends with and who she can sit next to at lunch. The teacher assured me that she would have a chat with her daughter. While talking with the teacher, I looked behind her and saw my son sitting by himself. After I finished with the teacher I asked my son why he wasn't sitting with the guys I'd seen him talking to a few minutes earlier. He said, "They think I'm weird." These kids all looked very athletic and not the type my son would fit in with at all. I told him the same thing I told his sisters, "You are unique." Plus I told him that those don't look like the type of kids you want to be friends with anyway. Now, before you bash me on classifying kids into groups, 3 of my nephews are all over six feet and all play basketball and are extremely smart. But, sometimes you can tell by watching how kids act if they have been taught respect and manners. My son is very intelligent and is into facts, video games and creating things. He is, like his sisters, unique. I just remembered a story about my oldest nephew that I need to share with my son. When Brian was touring the school before he went to kindergarten he was so excited to see beakers in the classroom- my sister was speechless and blamed our dad's extreme intelligence for that. LOL What five year old is excited to see beakers?! Normally my son doesn't like to be hugged or kissed in front of his peers but this morning he hugged me goodbye and told me he loved me. Although my Outers and my Middles are very much alike, all four of my children are also very different- unique. They all have little quirks that cause some kids to draw away from them but others to become very good friends. It's all a unique balance.