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My mother is extremely conservative. But more than that she’s very uneducated. Does not even believe in the word evolution. We limit contact, but she does come visit once every 6-8weeks. I have no idea how the conversation came up but apparently he said “did you know boys can marry boys.” My mom took it upon herself to tell her this is not true and that gay people are sick and we need to pray for them. I’m furious, my son is now very confused and my mom thinks she’s done nothing wrong. She just says “he has to know the truth, I’m not going to lie to him.”
Please help me fix this? |
| You can tell him that your mother is a religious nutjob. |
| Your DS will learn soon enough that grandma has her own ideas. I learned that about my grandfather. We all loved our grandpa and just ignored the stuff he said. |
| Your kid is just five and probably didn’t understand and won’t likely be influenced by grandma. I wouldnt even bring it up. |
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First, letting her come and visit every 6 weeks is not "limiting contact".
Second, I wouldn't let a religious nutcase spend time alone with one of my kids no matter who they were. As for what to do, I'd tell him the truth - that your mother's brain doesn't work properly and she believes strange things and it's best to not ask her questions anymore and to not believe what she says. |
All of this. |
| On the other hand, it's also bad to tell him that your mom's views are wrong just because you disagree with her. |
Now, there's a point. |
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Focus on the facts...it is legally possible for boys and girls to grow up and marry each other. Some people believe it’s wrong because of religion.
My mom is a nutjob but we also have some extended family in same sex relationships (actually the longest relationship is 25 years and counting, everyone else divorced long before that). So they see for themself that same-sex families can and do love each other and raise families. For other things like evolution, we visit museums and watch lots of documentaries. So when grandma talks about god creating the earth in a week they already have seen the bones for themselves. With regard to religion in general, we talk about the limits of what science can tell us and how people like to fill in the rest with stories and how those stories grow over time. My kids are 4 and 8 and we’ve been doing this since the beginning. |
| "Grandma believes differently from us, and she doesn't believe in the laws of our country." |
| Half our country feels this way. I think you could use this as an opportunity to talk about your family values and how to engage with people who believe different things than you do. |
This. It’s factual, neutral, and age-appropriate. |
I would also add that it hurts peoples feelings when they hear people say they shouldn’t be together. |
| I would tell him Grandma is nuts and obviously boys can marry boys. |
| Unfortunately, I think 5 is old enough to start talking about bigotry, because this will certainly not be the first time he encounters a bigot spreading hate. |