With lots of recent talk about about non-traditional family units, I've started thinking about tolerance, and how we instill those values in our children.

Growing up in the public school system, I don't remember being exposed to many children with two mothers, or two fathers. Heck, I believe I made my first friend with divorced parents in junior high school. I don't think I ever knew anyone who was adopted or conceived into a single parent home. My, how times have changed!

Now that I work in the public school system, it's awesome to see so many different types of families! Twin boys being raised by two moms, a little girl being raised by her uncle, who she considers "daddy".

It's so important to me for DD to start school knowing that not every family looks like her own. I don't want her to be shocked if some of her friends get dropped off by two fathers, or only have a mommy at home. Not only do I want to instill her with tolerance, acceptance, and love, but it's my hope that *every* child is empowered to feel proud of their family, no matter what.

We are still a long way off from starting school, so I'm curious how parents of older children have or plan to approach this, if at all (i.e. a conversation, role playing, a storybook dealing with the topic, etc).