Teach them when it comes up IRL. My kids only know that kids have moms and dads. When they ask more questions I will answer them.

There is no reason to tell them about sexual preference now. Also, since I am with my kids the whole day at home and they are only in the school with the whole class, I do not have a fear of them being sexually exploited by caregivers, at least in the near future.

We do not have LGBTQ++ couples in our orbit or our community.

Anonymous wrote:I explained science and technology and doctors and medicine and adoption that there’s a lot of different ways that families are made.

So you mentioned the ethical issue of two men renting a woman’s womb?

The other day I asked my son if he knew his friend from school has 2 dads.

My son is in 3rd grade and said “yeah he has a dad and a stepdad”

I said I don’t think so, I think his dads are married to each other.

And then my son asked how that is possible and how his friend got born?

I explained science and technology and doctors and medicine and adoption that there’s a lot of different ways that families are made.

We’ve tried to normalize same sex relationships since he was very young, but I’ve also been very frank about sex and how babies are made. I do think it’s a lot for them to process.

Anonymous wrote:do you not have any gay friends? seriously in this day and age? some kids have two dads, some kids have two moms, and some have just a mom, and some have just a dad, etc.

kid has known about this since he was 3? like he isn't an idiot, he know that he has a friend with two moms.

My kid had a number of friends with two moms or two dads, including one of his very best friends. He had been to their house many times, they'd been to our house, they went to a preschool that was conscious about celebrating all kinds of families.

When he was 5, and they'd been BFF's for 2.5 years we had a conversation about the word "gay". He told me it meant "when two men or two women are 'in love' and kiss and stuff". He then told me that he didn't know anyone who was gay. When I said "what about Larla's moms?" he looked at me like I had two heads. I asked him why he thought they lived together and he said "they have to live with each other, they have the same kid."

It was a very surprising moment to me, because like many people on this thread, I had assumed that having friends who were part of gay families would be enough and my kid would grow up seeing LGBT people and families as equal. But in reality the messages from the world about how romance and romantic love are only for straight couples are strong, and I needed to be clear about counteracting those messages. It turned out fine, he's a nice open minded kid now, but I think it's important to know that it's great for kids to have friends from all kinds of families, but that simply knowing families isn't enough, and conversations, perhaps supported by books etc. . . are also needed.

do you not have any gay friends? seriously in this day and age? some kids have two dads, some kids have two moms, and some have just a mom, and some have just a dad, etc.

kid has known about this since he was 3? like he isn't an idiot, he know that he has a friend with two moms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Michelle Duggar enters the chat

NP and we don't either. Obviously I'm aware they exist there just aren't any among the group of parents of the kids we hang out with nor are there any on the streets near our house. Makes sense statistically because there's what like 6% or so of adults that are LGBT?

It’s hard to track but more recent data suggests

Adults under 30: 17% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual
Adults 30 to 49: 8% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual
Adults 50 to 64: 5% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual
Adults 65 and older: 2% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexua

I’ve lived all over the US and in Europe and I’ve never lived anywhere without some lgbtqi people.

I work with 20 somethings and all the young women insist they are bisexual but are dating and living with men. So I take these stats with a grain of salt.

“Sometimes men love women
And sometimes men love men
And then there are bisexuals but they’re just kidding themselves…la la la lala laaaa”

Children’s song by Phoebe Bouffay

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?

Don’t they already know it from their community? DS had a classmate with 2 same sex parents from K, so it was what it was. It was the norm from K.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Michelle Duggar enters the chat

NP and we don't either. Obviously I'm aware they exist there just aren't any among the group of parents of the kids we hang out with nor are there any on the streets near our house. Makes sense statistically because there's what like 6% or so of adults that are LGBT?

Some of this might be the age of your child as well. Once your kid is in a class with 25 other children, there's a good chance one of them will have same sex parents eventually.

But it's also about proximity/geography. My neighborhood is full of families with two moms. Probably 8 or so families within a two block radius. That tight concentration leaves fewer queer families for other neighborhoods, which is their loss!

PP here and both of my kids are in elementary school. I mean sure there could be esp since my kids only hang out with some of the class. Both of mine are girls so that 50% of boys they're not hanging out with and beyond that it's like maybe 6 or 7 girls tops each year, each class they're hanging out with.

I suspect the concentration of LGBT population is higher in cities than suburbs (i.e. Fairfax county in my case) so if you take that 8% from the PP for 30-49 year olds (which is already a small number) and assume it is a little lower in the suburbs it's perfectly reasonable that we haven't encounterd any same sex couples.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Michelle Duggar enters the chat

NP and we don't either. Obviously I'm aware they exist there just aren't any among the group of parents of the kids we hang out with nor are there any on the streets near our house. Makes sense statistically because there's what like 6% or so of adults that are LGBT?

Some of this might be the age of your child as well. Once your kid is in a class with 25 other children, there's a good chance one of them will have same sex parents eventually.

But it's also about proximity/geography. My neighborhood is full of families with two moms. Probably 8 or so families within a two block radius. That tight concentration leaves fewer queer families for other neighborhoods, which is their loss!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Michelle Duggar enters the chat

NP and we don't either. Obviously I'm aware they exist there just aren't any among the group of parents of the kids we hang out with nor are there any on the streets near our house. Makes sense statistically because there's what like 6% or so of adults that are LGBT?

It’s hard to track but more recent data suggests

Adults under 30: 17% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual
Adults 30 to 49: 8% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual
Adults 50 to 64: 5% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual
Adults 65 and older: 2% identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexua

I’ve lived all over the US and in Europe and I’ve never lived anywhere without some lgbtqi people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Michelle Duggar enters the chat

NP and we don't either. Obviously I'm aware they exist there just aren't any among the group of parents of the kids we hang out with nor are there any on the streets near our house. Makes sense statistically because there's what like 6% or so of adults that are LGBT?

Anonymous wrote:We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Michelle Duggar enters the chat

We’ve never really discussed it. We don’t come across same sex couples in our daily life.

Anonymous wrote:Since my son was 3 and came home from preschool super pissed off that his friend Sam had two mommies and he only got to have one, and that's unfair. I mean for real, having two mommies does sound great.

Hahaha, this is so cute!