The birds and the bees...and the bees

Hmmm...I'll have to think about that. We are friends with a gay couple, not the same as an uncle situation, and it hasn't come up. I've addressed it in a more general manner. Nearing 7 years old and so far, so good but I'm sure it will come up in the next few years. She is much more interested in the baby side of things.

[Phoebe]

Thats a hard one. Our kids have never asked stuff like that so we haven't brought it up. I don't know how I would approach it. Sorry.

[DCJenn]

I would approach it as matter of factly as I would the hetero discussion- particularly the "parts" discussion.

I would probably also emphasize that lots of people have families that look different that yours but the most important thing is that they love and respect each other.

Living in the neighborhood that I do, it's bound to come up earlier with us as well. Chances are there will be quite a few kids with two daddies and/or two mommies at school.

I think in some ways it's easier to explain than divorced families.

Two people meet, fall in love and sometimes have a baby, sometimes not.

Jenn

PS- I think the bigger issues than the mechanics is how you and your husband feel about it and making sure your kids 'get' where your family fits in the discussion.

[PrincessFiona]

We have addressed this issue with all of our three older kids...8, 11 and 12 over the last few years. Basically, they are exposed to talk about homosexuality at school and on tv. It is inescapable.

I pretty much just explain that there are some individuals who are born with an attraction to the same gender...that they aren't any different than everyone else except for this point....

My kids have responded with the standard "that's gross" kind of a thing and I pretty much have just tried to play it down and say that it is normal for them.

I've kind of laid general groundwork. "Not everyone gets married.' "Families are people who love each other." We have a couple pairs of lesbian couples we are friends with here, and the boys play with their kids.

I highly doubt you'd be getting into mechanics. Lucy won't know to ask. At this point it will be more of a "people love who they love" kind of thing.

We had to account for the rhetoric the kids hear from my parents when we visit them. They are extremely homophobic and verbal about it. So in addition to matter-of-factly explaining why sometimes 2 men or 2 women end up together, we explained that there are some people who don't agree with that lifestyle and that WE don't have to agree with them. (Another one of those 'think for yourself' situations )

[Momo]

http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/68/gay_or_straight

I posted this awhile back elsewhere. If you haven't already, you should try & take the time to watch all of the mini clips in this series...facinating, and it might give you ideas, that you could use when trying to explain homosexuality.

[Meenah]

When my girls were younger we just included it in the normal birds & bees conversations. I approached it no differently than living together without being married, being married, divorced, same sex, etc. If we make a big deal then they will too. It worked for us.