5 Legit Reasons Lesbians Make The BEST Parents
Two moms are better than one.
iStock A recent study shows that kids raised by lesbian parents are not only as happy and well adjusted as heterosexual parents, but they also handle certain situations better, such as divorce.
With these new findings, would lesbian moms make better parents? You could make a pretty compelling case for it. Here are five reasons that may well be true:
1. Their children are wanted.
It's not like lesbians generally get pregnant accidentally, or even without a great deal of forethought. The children of lesbians are wanted and prepared for. That counts for a lot, in terms of parenting commitment.
2. Their children learn tolerance, open-mindedness and gender-parity early.
Kids who are raised in lesbian households are exposed right away to the idea that all families don't look the same, that people sometimes make judgments that aren't right and unfair, and that tasks and behaviors sometimes thought to be gender-specific or gender-determined often are not.
3. Their children may learn early to stand up for what is right.
Although it may be hard to see a bright side of children being teased for having families that are "different," it may help them learn to take a stand for what they believe in and what they know to be true and just.
4. Their marriages were hard-won.
Let's face it, many of us straight parents take marriage — and the benefits that it can provide — for granted. Gay couples have worked hard for the right to marry. Though research shows that heterosexual and same-sex marriages don't fundamentally differ in terms of commitment and satisfaction, I would contend that having two parents who are keenly aware of the benefits of marriage, and commitment can only work to a family's benefit.
5. They can share the worry and mom-guilt equally.
I can't speak for you, but in my household, although my husband and I share parenting duties pretty equally, I carry darn near 100 percent of the worry and guilt load. It's me, the mother, who bolts upright in the middle of the night in a fit of panic for forgetting the school field trip or afterschool registration or birthday-party RSVP, while my husband blissfully sleeps through the night.
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and finding your fellow mom also awake and concerned, and taking action. Yeah, see what my baseball-mom friend meant?