Talking homosexuality with kids
This is an article by Kim Gray in the Calgary Herald:
The questions are coming. You know they are. It’s just a matter of time. Meanwhile, how you as a parent will respond is worth considering.
At least, this is the opinion of one Calgary parenting consultant and I’m inclined to agree with her.
I’m not just talking about sex. I’m talking about the question of homosexuality. And how you — no matter what your beliefs are — plan to address the topic when it surfaces.
“You need to practise what you’re going to say. So your children’s initial questions don’t freak you out so much that they never ask you a question again,” says consultant Julie Freedman Smith of Calgary’s Parenting Power.
“It was much less common for our generation’s parents to talk about homosexuality, which is why so many of us are uncomfortable. We don’t have a script to work from,” she says.
She encourages parents, who want to read up on children and sexuality, to pick up a copy of Justin Richardson’s Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know about Sex but Were Afraid They’d Ask (Random House, 2003).
“These days, our kids are exposed to so much,” she says. “Especially through the media. We need to be prepared. There’s a whole chapter in this book as well on what to do if you think your child might be gay and how to go there, how to give them support.”
Still, I’m wondering, why, in this day and age — when so many of us have gay and lesbian friends and relatives who are open about their sexual preferences — is talking about homosexuality uncomfortable?
