I so wish you remembered the the funny out-of-context lesbian line!

And yes, we are long overdue for our lunch!!

Seeing “Queer” bothered me. It was once I word I used often, the whole reclaiming a word once used to hurt me thing… But then once I became a parent, I’ve found that trying to explain the nuance of using put-down words sometimes but not other times is really confusing for an under 5 year old brain so I don’t use those words any more. I would have preferred that to have been left off and not represented as “this is a word that is academically used to define LGBT people”

I have to admit, I have found that most of the “there is no one way to be” assemblies over the course of the school year have been WAAAAAAYYYY over my 5 year old child’s head. And with this particular one, we have a personal interest, being a two mom family and all. I was hoping for a bit more “LGBT from a 5 year old perspective”. But once I saw that list of words I thought “Oh well, here’s another assembly that is geared for much older kids.”

On the very first slide in the presentation there was a photo of our family. My kid spent the entire assembly crying and frustrated because the kid sitting next to us didn’t see our picture and didn’t believe that my kid was pictured in the slide. So they bickered the entire time.

I don’t think it helped that the 2/3 students were leaving to go on a field trip and were too excited to sit still for anything. I get the concept that if you introduce words to kids eventually they absorb it… We’ve been taking our child to SF Pride since babyhood. Until this year my kid just thought it was about rainbows, no matter how many books, stories we’ve told, nor how many time we’ve explained gay or lesbian, it’s not really part of my kid’s vocabulary. After this assembly my kid used the word lesbian for the first time, totally out of context – I so wish I could remember what was said, it was hysterical. In my kid’s play boys marry girls. So much for absorbing a life time of Pride parades and lesbian moms. (Thanks Disney.)

So, to sum, I loved the rainbow colors, love the slide show, but the list of words and their “explanation” were not age appropriate for K/1 level kids. And I don’t mean that in a prude way, I mean that in a cognitive way. Not sure if I captured my full experience here, there’s more I can share off line. So just another good excuse for finally making that lunch date together!

I definitely feel like I’m an ally. I’m just concerned about those folks who don’t see themselves as allies!

Shouldn’t we ALL be allies?!

Agreed. But I guess living in the uber PC bubble that is the San Francisco Bay Area the inclusiveness thing gets to *absurd* proportions. It seems there are always folks who are poised to be pissed off no matter how hard you try to include everyone.

Case in point: My kid’s school doesn’t have any sort of holiday pageant/party/gathering because some parent(s) apparently bitched about it in years past. Even if you sing about several holidays–or just about snow or community or peace–you’re still bound to piss someone off.

At some point the super crazy PC-ness becomes *incredibly* exhausting. IMHO.

xoxo!

Yes, I assumed that was the def of intersex, and a friend confirmed it for me later. I guess it’s the new PC term for hermaphrodite. (Some friends and I were laughing the other night about how many of our parents say “Oriental” instead of “Asian.” Oy! I’m uncool in a similar way because I didn’t know intersex was the new norm.)

As for where the parenting manual is for this stuff—check your glove compartment. Or the junk drawer in your kitchen. If you can’t find it in those places, it’s either in your basement… or you’re SOL.

I’m all for honesty as the questions are asked, but answering in an age-appropriate way. I’m always surprised by how satisfied my kids can be with a really small amount of information.

Good luck! xoxox

We have an LGBTQQIA group at our school. The name is annoying to publish — and there’s always arguments about what comes first (is it GLBTQQIA, or LGBTQ2IA? How come it’s not the one I suggested, ABIGQLTQ? A-big-quilt-cue?) — but they’re all included because they’re all “normal”.

Also, I’m totally making that fruit salad. Awesome!

Who’s the info for anyway?

Kids dont want to know.

Mine just want a straight answer when they ask a question.

They really don’t want to know any extra. They don’t.

I am bisexual but committed and monogomous with a man, my daughter’s father. And all the pride events this month have got me thinking about how much and when I will talk to my daughter about my own orientation and life choices. Ever? Only if I need it as an example? Only if she finds the wedding album from my first marriage, which was to a woman? Where is the parenting guide to this stuff?