How to teach your kids about same-sex marriage
A few of my friends have asked me how I managed to teach my kids about how babies are made when they’re so young, and discuss with them what it means to be gay, or how couples who are gay have children. It’s easy: I just tell them the truth. I answer their questions, I talk about different types of people and families and lives… it’s not difficult to teach kids about these things. We talk about how some people are divorced, some are remarried, some are a different colour than us, some kids have one parent, some are adopted, some have two dads, some have two moms, some people eat broccoli while others do not. None of these things are difficult conversations to have with a child. So when a friend asked me how my kids (who are six- and three-years old) know about same-sex couples, I told her: I just stated the facts, ma’am.
She felt it was somehow “weird” to teach kids about same sex couples when she and her husband are not a same sex couple. What an awkward conversation! (Nope.) What a strange thing to teach a child! (Nope.) It’s not necessary! (It is.) How would you even start that conversation? (Easy.)
I don’t see the confusion at all, but I thought this handy graphic would help anyone who is still not sure how to teach their kids about same sex couples or maybe gay/same-sex marriage.
The end.
I wanna share something with you. My eldest is in grade 12 this year, and I’m seeing my friend group..
I spend a lotta time talking about kindness vs. niceness. There’s a massive difference between the two, and society seems..
When my daughter was little, I used to love dressing her in cool clothes (that I typically bought on sale..
To be clear, this isn’t at all what men need to be doing on International Women’s Day, it’s what they..
Years ago, I found my birth family. One of my sisters and I have maintained a relationship, but my birth..
Bless me father, for I have sin– no, wait, that’s not right. Forgive me, readers, for I have not blogged…
15 thoughts on “How to teach your kids about same-sex marriage”
Comments are closed.
I can’t believe you’re teaching your kids all of this! Just sayin’…
Why? Why is it so unbelievable?
Why on earth would anyone be afraid to answer these questions? As far as I’m concerned love is one of the easiest topics I will ever discuss with my kids.
Wouldn’t it be nice if that’s how every parent felt?
I think so too. If you’re not open to talking and answering questions, someone else will and the answers they get from someone else, might not be the ones that you believe. This goes for anything that our kids want to talk or know about.
As with everything, I prefer to be the one who guides my kids’ moral compasses. I know you’re the same. 🙂
I do. If we’re not open to answering their questions and giving them information, they will find it somewhere else. Truth is, they find answers everywhere and also questions. I believe that we need to keep conversations flowing and that we need to ask as many questions as they do.
YES! Love is love! Perfect. Honesty is the best way to go with kids. Our neighbours are a happy gay couple and my kids love them and don’t see anything but love. The person who commented first here: What is “all of this” that you are referring to? Life? Aren’t we supposed to teach them about life and love?
Exactly 🙂
Our family has been blessed to be surrounded by all kinds of love. I’m thankful that there hasn’t been any teaching required. They do not notice differences because there aren’t any 🙂 Their cousins have two moms, their uncle has a boyfriend. Pretty easy concepts.
I wish ours was so filled with love. Sadly, my kids got an education on separation and divorce more than different kinds of love. So many of our family members are split up.
We’ve always been open too. My brother happens to be gay and my first cousin was the first legally married gay/Lebian (well half of) couple in Nova Scotia and is a past president of Egale. I don’t get why it’s even an issue? We’ve been open about sex, body parts, racial differences, religious diversity and about straight and gay marriages/relationships/love from the time O. was probably 2 or 3. We of course put it in age appropriate context, but she is 8 now and has known her uncle is gay from the time she was about 3, she’s used the word vagina since about the same time, etc. I don’t get why this is even an issue for some people? Like you said there’s so many different types of families, single parents, divorces, same sex couples, etc…who cares? Just answer questions honestly! And without judgment!
Great post. Considering that same sex couples have been legally allowed to marry In Canada for over 8 years, it seems silly that parents WOULDN’T have some kind of talk educating their kids about the diversity that exists in our country/world. Seriously, it’s 2013!!
What’s more shocking are the views some people of our generation still have, though.
It is unbelievable b/c according to other posts of yours, your kids are only six-going-on-seven and three-going-on-four.