Volunteering in my kid's kindergarten classroom, I heard kids debating whether or not two boys or two girls could get married to each other.

Teaching about relationships or sex?

Relationships - well we know same sex couples so l don’t know if l consciously taught that.

Sex. I think l taught about the egg and sperm and the parts starting at 4 or 5? Not sure l’ve ever had a sex talk with them (kids are tweens) about the actual mechanics of same sex sex. I do know they learned about 69 in grade 5 sex Ed though. My son still giggles any time the number comes up.

It isn't "taught." It just is. My kids have had friends with same sex parents since birth. There's nothing to teach. It's just who Sally's parents are.

It seems like it should be the same was mixed-sex marriages are discussed. It’s kind of funny that no one asks this about mixed race marriages. I’m sure there are lots of kids that don’t know anyone in a mixed race marriage but no one feels like kids need to either be explicitly taught that some one can love someone of another race, or that we need to tiptoe around it as if it doesn’t exist.

My kids have known ever since they learned about relationships. Uncle Joe in in a relationship with Uncle Brian, so it was pretty easy to explain.

2s or 3s, whenever the idea of families came up.

My kid was in third grade when her friend told her that two boys in their class had gotten married and then divorced during recess. My daughter was in disbelief and told her friend that two boys couldn't get married. When she got home, I had to explain. It is not explicitly talked about in school.

Yes it doesn’t have to be a big deal when they are really young. Sometimes boys love boys and girls love girls.

From birth… love is love and families come in all shapes and sizes

How in 2024 is this a question?!?

“Sorry Larla you’re not old enough to learn why they love each other”….what?!!

We are a 2 mom family so since birth in our house. Different family structures are an ongoing discussion .
I dot think it was “ taught” at school per se. But if kids asked my kid or there parents I would think their parents would tell them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trying to gauge what the norm is if/when this is taught in a school setting. And if you are teaching it at home, then what’s the appropriate age?

No one is answering your first question. I interned in kindergarten for my internship and in the school setting, it is taught in kindergarten. We went over family dynamics. I am sure it is also taught in pre k but I am not sure about the curriculum. Fast forward and I have taught 3-6th. I am currently teaching 6th grade and yes, we are still talking about it. For instance, we over gender identity, sex assigned at birth, and terminologies for awareness and understanding. It is talked about early on and goes on more in depth.

I’m so curious to learn where (generally) you are. We left DMV and are in a district considered among the most “progressive” in the nation. Nothing like this is occurring at all. Many families have two moms or dads, there are trans and non-binary kids, and there is zero sex or gender ed curriculum in elementary. Introductions with pronouns are a thing. In MS and HS sex ed curriculum is focused on disease and pregnancy prevention. MS and HS students do have access to mental health and counseling resources if they need to talk about something that isn’t safe to talk about at home.

Not sure what you mean by teach/discuss?

Kids should come across same-sex couples regularly, from an early age, both in real life and in media (books, TV shows, etc.) It's just a normal part of life. If that's not happening naturally, take a hard look at why and how, and figure out how to course-correct.

Likewise, in school, any decent school is going to have books and other materials that include a variety of people of all races, religions, sexual orientations, etc... to do anything else would be exclusionary and unfairly favor some kids over others. But that doesn't mean they're "teaching" anything about same-sex relationships in particular, other than that they exist, which again presumably most kids are already well aware of.

By "teach about it," do you mean when do schools explain the history of i.e. why LGBTQ people have been discriminated against in the past, when gay marriage became legal, etc? I'm not sure. As a parent, I have touched on this a little with my 8 year but not yet with my 4 year old.

Anonymous wrote:Trying to gauge what the norm is if/when this is taught in a school setting. And if you are teaching it at home, then what’s the appropriate age?

No one is answering your first question. I interned in kindergarten for my internship and in the school setting, it is taught in kindergarten. We went over family dynamics. I am sure it is also taught in pre k but I am not sure about the curriculum. Fast forward and I have taught 3-6th. I am currently teaching 6th grade and yes, we are still talking about it. For instance, we over gender identity, sex assigned at birth, and terminologies for awareness and understanding. It is talked about early on and goes on more in depth.

We’ve always discussed. Something simple like “some kids have two moms or two dads.” I don’t think it needs taught in school because there’s really nothing to teach.

If you’re asking when should actual *sex* that same sex couples have? Same time you teach the birds and the bees in school.

I was a bit annoyed that school kept teaching about single parents and how some parents don’t marry and that’s ok. Homo or heterosexual marriages are great IMO, but I still think kids need two parents. I get that it doesn’t always happen but it should still be the goal for parents. My oldest is very naive and had no idea you could have baby before marriage

Kids have had friends with same-sex parents since toddlerhood, so whenever it came up at school, it was not a new topic.