My Bug came to me this morning holding my People magazine. "Mama, what is this word?" She asked pointing to the cover of Clay Aiken. I stalled for a second in my morning fog...."Umm, it says Gay."
Of course , that couldnt be the end of it.
"Well what does that mean?" She asks me looking confused. I kinda freeze up for a second, then I decide right there to just go for it. No point dragging this out. "It means sometimes a man will fall in love with a man or a lady will fall in love with a lady. Instead of a man and a woman they would be a couple with 2 boys or 2 girls that love each other." She starts giggling, and giggling. "Are you sure?" she chuckles out. "Yup I am sure. It is fine , just different, GOD does all kinds of things" She looks at me like I am a bit nutty, but says "well cute baby" then she walks off giggling.
So how was your morning?
10 comments:
You are an AWESOME mom!
I loved how you explained that to your child.
This made my day. =)
Thank you :)
Maria
Leave it to Bug!! That's great how you explained it. Ofcourse, knowing Bug, 2 weeks from now, she'll have more questions... :)
PS wonder what kind of controversy this will stir up on you blog...
What a great reply you gave her. Thank you so much for sharing that with us.
Rhonda
Gulp..... you done good!
Thank goodness she didn't ask me... I would have said gay means happy! :) ly,nana
well done, maria! i have taken the chicken's way out and have simply stopped taking charlotte and sophia through the checkout aisles that have magazines. (the self-checkout lanes don't have magazines, and i have charlotte bag the groceries to keep her busy.) i tell ya, this reading business is a double-edged sword, isn't it?
I respect and give you a lot of credit for telling your child the truth. Lots of parents would just try to avoid the question all together. I hope that when my kids get older I can do the same thing. Just give them enough info. to satisfy their curiosity. Lots of times, like in this case, you didn't even have to really give her a long answer.
PS-- look I got a blogger name!! haha. somebody finally showed me that I can actually do that. what can I say...I am a little technologically challenged!
--Alex
Great answer. My oldest DD is gay, so it is no secret around here what "gay" is :)
Great job tackling a sensitive subject. Now, please let me share a funny story surrounding the word "gay." My sister-in-law is an older mom (like I am now) and has one daughter. A couple years ago she picked her daughter up from school and was immediately asked "What is gay?" My sister-in-law went on to explain gay in pretty much the way you explained it to your daughter. Her daughter looked a bit confused yet accepting of that answer. My sister-in-law called later that night to tell me husband of the conversation to which my husband replied, "You do know that when kids refer to something as gay, they aren't typically referring to sexual orientation?" He had to explain to his sister that the word gay is also used to say something is stupid as in "That's so gay." My sister-in-law was horrified that she had spent all this time explaining what gay was to her 8 year old daughter and most likely had given her the wrong explanation. LOL!!!! Kuddos to all parents out there that are willing to be open about tough topics with their children when they ask. I for one didn't have that luxury as a child.
Post a Comment