Have you told your kids what "straight' and "gay" mean in reference to people?

[Lady Florida.]

See that is the difficulty.  "Like".  It's not about liking.  Not that I have a better way of putting it to a kid.  I know what you mean, but they don't always.

 

Ours knew and that's all that mattered because he's the only one we were teaching. You use what word works for you. Like worked for us. Kids get to an age where they talk about whether you like someone or like-like them. Ds knew the difference by the time we were discussing it.

[SKL]

I will say I'm surprised when I hear people say this has never come up.  It's like everyone everywhere is constantly talking about it.  To the point one of my kids is literally confused.  He is under the impression that if he likes boys he must be gay.  So he told me he is gay.  Except I honestly do not think he fully understands what exactly that means.  At another point he told me he is bisexual.  Again, because he likes girls and boys.  But "likes" them as friends.  He has not started puberty yet and is rather naive.  I explain stuff in detail because I'm open like that, but he still says goofy stuff leading me to believe he doesn't fully get it.  So whatever.  If he is gay he is gay, but it's like that's what kids are constantly talking about these days.  What sexual orientation they are or what gender they are.  It's good there is conversation, but it feels like stuff has kinda gone off the deep end in some other confusing direction. 

 

I think many kids are trying to talk about this before they understand it.  I don't really think it's always a good thing.  What is the big hurry to put oneself in a box?  My kids had a girl in their class last year (5th grade) who said she was both male and female (I can't remember the term offhand, but the girl used a modern term for it).  I mean, if she is, whatever, but at that age I think it's more likely she likes both "boy things" and "girl things" and thinks that has some significance.  We all like some "girl things" and some "boy things" and 5th grade is too young to know who we are going to prefer having sex with.

 

I don't know whether or not it matters that they categorize themselves early - do they then cut off opportunities to learn who they really are, or not?  I don't know.  I know that when I was a tween, I just wanted more time to enjoy the non-sexual aspects of life before being pressured into romantic or sexual things.

 

Media is media, we aren't going to stop our kids from hearing it, but I'm with you on this point.

[maize]

I will say I'm surprised when I hear people say this has never come up. It's like everyone everywhere is constantly talking about it. To the point one of my kids is literally confused. He is under the impression that if he likes boys he must be gay. So he told me he is gay. Except I honestly do not think he fully understands what exactly that means. At another point he told me he is bisexual. Again, because he likes girls and boys. But "likes" them as friends. He has not started puberty yet and is rather naive. I explain stuff in detail because I'm open like that, but he still says goofy stuff leading me to believe he doesn't fully get it. So whatever. If he is gay he is gay, but it's like that's what kids are constantly talking about these days. What sexual orientation they are or what gender they are. It's good there is conversation, but it feels like stuff has kinda gone off the deep end in some other confusing direction.

Yep, I think a lot of kids are confused and stressed unnecessarily.

[SeaConquest]

My 9 year old has known for several years. It's just a discussion about how love and families come in many forms.

[umsami]

We didn't have the discussion until it came up as being used as a slur at school.  So we talked about how that's wrong.... how there's nothing wrong with loving somebody.... and how people can't help whom they are attracted to and fall in love with.  

 

With the older kids, we've spoken about different prejudices within our own community, and how if they ever know of a friend who is facing issues with their family such as being kicked out, that they need to know that our home is a safe space and they are always welcome.  That they can call me any time to come get them, etc.  

[Farrar]

Of course. They've known LGBTQ people pretty much all their lives in different contexts, so it would be silly not to know this.

 

When my kids were like 7 or 8, we were reading a biology book for school that included the whole egg and sperm makes a baby thing and Mushroom said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Then how to do men make a baby. I KNOW they can." No, sweetie, that was adoption.  :lol:

[poppy]

Personally I don't categorize people like that in my mind or in my speech. The only time I would bring it up would be if I thought it had some relevance to my kids. For example, "she was also adopted from [kids' birth country / region]."

 

If you ask me whether I know any ___ people, I can tell you who is this and who is that as far as sexual orientation as far as I know [or, in some cases, suspect]. But that has nothing to do with my interactions with those people.

 

I wish people wouldn't tell their kids that women living together are probably lesbians (or similar logic). Let people speak for themselves. I am living with 2 unrelated adult females and I am not in a sexual relationship with either of them. I really think it's wrong for people to teach kids to assume what may be going on in other people's bedrooms.

This is why gay marriage is so important , I think . If a man and women are living together and raising kids together, the are safely assumed to be a couple. As in , I’d always invite them both to a party together etc . Women typically do not get that safe unstated assumption , unless they choose to make it a marriage .

[Julie Smith]

When my boys were small they were into listening to a lot of fiction written when, “gay†meant happy, and people, “ejaculated†there words. So we did have a conversation about what those words meant in modern times.

 

Just because your little brother is happy to hear we are giong out for donuts and yelling, “yah†when standing on the stairs doesn’t mean he, “is gay and ejaculating all over the stairsâ€.

[fralala]

I will say I'm surprised when I hear people say this has never come up.  It's like everyone everywhere is constantly talking about it.  To the point one of my kids is literally confused.  He is under the impression that if he likes boys he must be gay.  So he told me he is gay.  Except I honestly do not think he fully understands what exactly that means.  At another point he told me he is bisexual.  Again, because he likes girls and boys.  But "likes" them as friends.  He has not started puberty yet and is rather naive.  I explain stuff in detail because I'm open like that, but he still says goofy stuff leading me to believe he doesn't fully get it.  So whatever.  If he is gay he is gay, but it's like that's what kids are constantly talking about these days.  What sexual orientation they are or what gender they are.  It's good there is conversation, but it feels like stuff has kinda gone off the deep end in some other confusing direction. 

 

But maybe it's just confusing to us? I mean, my kids plan to marry one another. Or me. We used to do all that silly playground stuff, only in a more heteronormative way.

[Mimm]

But maybe it's just confusing to us? I mean, my kids plan to marry one another. Or me. We used to do all that silly playground stuff, only in a more heteronormative way.

 

Yeah my four year old went through the list of people she wants to marry. Her sisters, me, her father, her cousins, uncles, grandparents, etc. After I nixed all these suggestions, she settled on a boy from her co-op. She is adamant that she wants to get married though. For the dress. She wants a white dress and a veil, gloves, necklace, earrings, and flowers. I've never actually met a child that started planning her wedding this young. :)

[Tsuga]

Not looking for controversy or judgements or anything like that.  Just looking for whether your kids under age 10 understand this term -- from a cultural literacy perspective.

 

My 7 year old casually asked me what "gay" means today while watching a TV show where the term came up.  He does know several gay men and lesbians, but, I don't know how aware he is of that (the way many 7 year olds don't pay attention to adults).  I gave a neutral / simple definition .  I  don't know how it ever came up before, and I'm a little embarrassed.

 

Apologies in advance if this question is insensitive.

 

Yes, but they learned about it somewhat differently. Like "can two men kiss?" I don't know how it came up. Or maybe they said, "how can you have two moms?" and we said, "yes they can, they can't make a baby the same way a man and woman can but they can fall in love and get married."

 

They have no interest in the mechanics of it all at their young ages--straight, gay, or flying solo--so that's not an issue. To them it's all about who you have a family with.

 

I can't imagine mixing up friendship and romantic relationships. Even at 4-5, the kids in our community would balk if you said that a boy was a little girls "boyfriend" just because they hung out. "He's just my friend!" Some kids will think that "it is not possible to be friends with the opposite sex without being romantically involved". But that premise in and of itself is really the issue and it has nothing to do with homosexuality. Friendship is possible between people of the opposite sex. You might choose, after marriage, not to pursue such friendships except in a couples setting, but it's obviously possible to enjoy the company of someone who belongs to the same sex as your romantic interest.

[poppy]

You know what ? I was thinking about this today and I’m pretty sure in retrospect I figured out what gay meant from Three’s Company and Soap. I knew what they meant with the little finger gesture on Threes Company and then Soap - Billy Crystals character - gave me the word for it. I distinctly remember an episode where he meets a gay woman and says that women can’t be gay and she laughs and corrects him.

 

I was definitely under 10 . And while these aren’t shows I’d have my kid watch I did turn out ok?

 

I’d forgotten all about that until this conversation .

[Terabith]

When my boys were small they were into listening to a lot of fiction written when, “gay†meant happy, and people, “ejaculated†there words. So we did have a conversation about what those words meant in modern times.

 

Just because your little brother is happy to hear we are giong out for donuts and yelling, “yah†when standing on the stairs doesn’t mean he, “is gay and ejaculating all over the stairsâ€.

 

Okay, this is possibly the funniest thing I've heard all week.

[Tsuga]

I will say I'm surprised when I hear people say this has never come up.  It's like everyone everywhere is constantly talking about it.  To the point one of my kids is literally confused.  He is under the impression that if he likes boys he must be gay.  So he told me he is gay.  Except I honestly do not think he fully understands what exactly that means.  At another point he told me he is bisexual.  Again, because he likes girls and boys.  But "likes" them as friends.  He has not started puberty yet and is rather naive.  I explain stuff in detail because I'm open like that, but he still says goofy stuff leading me to believe he doesn't fully get it.  So whatever.  If he is gay he is gay, but it's like that's what kids are constantly talking about these days.  What sexual orientation they are or what gender they are.  It's good there is conversation, but it feels like stuff has kinda gone off the deep end in some other confusing direction. 

 

If you guys homeschool, is this just coming up all the time at church or something?

 

My kids go to public school and they certainly haven't heard people talk extensively about sexual preferences in elementary school. Maybe our Seattle suburbs are behind, but my observation is that children are pretty much "BOYS EWWWWWW" or "I don't think they're so bad... at least they have good Pokemon cards..." until like middle school! They don't even want to hear about sex education. It's forced upon them by us, their parents, via the hapless public school teachers, whom we insist have the same talks, because frankly if only we said it nobody would believe deodorant was actually necessary.

 

The only other place I've lived in the US is the only area even more gay than Seattle, and we never talked much about it. If someone was gay they were gay. It wasn't confusing. Some boys like boys. Some girls like girls. Some people like other people regardless of sex. Whatever, that's cool. Most of us still turned out straight, as you can see by statistics in San Francisco and Seattle, the gay population is a tiny proportion of households.

 

https://www.roadsnacks.net/gayest-cities-in-america/

 

So if our west coast gay havens are the future of America's gayness, sleep easy: no matter how hard you try, you can't really turn a straight kid gay even by talking about it all the time and hanging rainbow flags everywhere, even if every day is pride day.

 

(Not that we ever talked about it all the time... the fascination was not there.)

[Megbo]

Yes, these terms have come up in conversation with our kids well before age 10 and we've explained what they mean. Our kids have always known gay people, but all except our youngest have needed some help understanding what the words mean and how they apply to people we know. Ds3 seems to have picked up the words' meanings on his own, which makes sense because my 10yo is kind of fascinated by LGBT people and media and talks about it quite a bit. 

[nixpix5]

You know what ? I was thinking about this today and I’m pretty sure in retrospect I figured out what gay meant from Three’s Company and Soap. I knew what they meant with the little finger gesture on Threes Company and then Soap - Billy Crystals character - gave me the word for it. I distinctly remember an episode where he meets a gay woman and says that women can’t be gay and she laughs and corrects him.

 

I was definitely under 10 . And while these aren’t shows I’d have my kid watch I did turn out ok?

 

I’d forgotten all about that until this conversation .

Yep, for me it was Three's Company when I was a kindergartener. I easily put together what that meant after watching it a short while. I remember asking my dad if it meant he didn't like girls and my dad said "yep, and that he would rather date men" just straight and to the point. I remember it being a non issue.

[Daria]

I think that there are aspects of identity and sexual orientation that kids who are raised in diverse welcoming environments get at an intuitive level much more easily than many adults.   I think for my my kid questions of gender identity, and gender expression were pretty easy for him to understand, from the very beginning.  He knew that he was a boy, and that even if he dressed as Cinderella he was still a boy, so it made perfect sense to him that Jane knew she was a girl (even if she'd been assigned male at birth), and that Tom knew he was a man even though he performed as a drag artist in women's clothing under the name Delilah.  

 

But it was a long time before he had an understanding of sexual orientation outside of a pragmatic understanding about relationships.  He accepted from the beginning that families could have two men or two women or a man and a woman.  And once I cleared up the misunderstanding in the conversation I described above, he didn't have problem identifying two men who lived together as gay.  But understanding gay as a stable characteristic of a person, that existed before the relationship started, and would persist if the relationship ended, that was confusing.  Or the idea that you could apply terms like straight or gay to people like me or his grandmother, who he has never known to be in a relationship at all.  That was confusing.  
 

So, I guess I'd say that my kid knew from the time he noticed family compositions at all that some couples are men, and some are women, and some are mixed, but that the words and the understanding of sexual orientation as identity and not just a description of a relationship, took a lot longer. 

 

I don't know if I'm making any sense, so let me know if I'm not.

[kiwik]

We keep reading the word gay in the old sense in books so other meanings came up then. I don't think they know anyone gay though. I do of course but going to a Christian school their contacts are a little more limited.

[Carrie12345]

Why are we talking about gender identity when the topic is sexual orientation ? Confused.

 

Because conversations expand and T is part of LGBTQ and gender is typically used to define sexual orientation before getting into nuances.

[SparklyUnicorn]

If you guys homeschool, is this just coming up all the time at church or something?

 

My kids go to public school and they certainly haven't heard people talk extensively about sexual preferences in elementary school. Maybe our Seattle suburbs are behind, but my observation is that children are pretty much "BOYS EWWWWWW" or "I don't think they're so bad... at least they have good Pokemon cards..." until like middle school! They don't even want to hear about sex education. It's forced upon them by us, their parents, via the hapless public school teachers, whom we insist have the same talks, because frankly if only we said it nobody would believe deodorant was actually necessary.

 

The only other place I've lived in the US is the only area even more gay than Seattle, and we never talked much about it. If someone was gay they were gay. It wasn't confusing. Some boys like boys. Some girls like girls. Some people like other people regardless of sex. Whatever, that's cool. Most of us still turned out straight, as you can see by statistics in San Francisco and Seattle, the gay population is a tiny proportion of households.

 

https://www.roadsnacks.net/gayest-cities-in-america/

 

So if our west coast gay havens are the future of America's gayness, sleep easy: no matter how hard you try, you can't really turn a straight kid gay even by talking about it all the time and hanging rainbow flags everywhere, even if every day is pride day.

 

(Not that we ever talked about it all the time... the fascination was not there.)

 

My kids only do extracurricular activities with public schooled kids.  They are hearing it there.  We are atheists so of course we don't go to church. 

 

I'm not worried about turning someone gay.  I hope that is not how what I said came across. 

 

 

[Scarlett]

I will say I'm surprised when I hear people say this has never come up. It's like everyone everywhere is constantly talking about it. To the point one of my kids is literally confused. He is under the impression that if he likes boys he must be gay. So he told me he is gay. Except I honestly do not think he fully understands what exactly that means. At another point he told me he is bisexual. Again, because he likes girls and boys. But "likes" them as friends. He has not started puberty yet and is rather naive. I explain stuff in detail because I'm open like that, but he still says goofy stuff leading me to believe he doesn't fully get it. So whatever. If he is gay he is gay, but it's like that's what kids are constantly talking about these days. What sexual orientation they are or what gender they are. It's good there is conversation, but it feels like stuff has kinda gone off the deep end in some other confusing direction.

Right. I see a future of a whole bunch of very confused young adults.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Right. I see a future of a whole bunch of very confused young adults.

 

Yeah I don't know what to make of it really.  I do live in a very liberal area.  So maybe this varies from place to place? But I feel like this is a constant topic of discussion around here among kids (and others).  It's a topic that even made it into a play my kids are both performing in.  It's only a mention, but it's there.  The teacher often writes in current topics.  I'm ok with it.  Not saying I have a problem with it, but for people to tell me I might be imagining the prevalence of this topic or I'm discussing it at church (which is funny cuz I'm an atheist)....obviously we must have very different realities!

 

There was a uhhh freak out locally not too long ago.  A school had some sort of health presentation that was about sexual orientation and transgendered.  There were packets of information that were intended for high school students and a different set of packets for younger kids.  Wellll the high school packet ended up being given to the younger kids and it had very graphic language (even stuff like fag hag...descriptions of sex acts, etc.).  Needless to say parents were angry.  I don't mind talking about these things with my kids, but no honestly I don't want a school doing that with my young kid.  High school..I'm ok with that. 

[Joker]

Our dc always knew about same sex relationships since they have a gay uncle, but we didn't call him gay Uncle D so the actual words weren't something they knew until probably between 8-10 I guess. 

 

I do wish we had conversations about identity when they were younger because it might have saved ds from a few years of severe anxiety and depression. He didn't have the language to tell us and then when he understood what was going on he was too afraid we wouldn't be okay with it since we had never discussed it. I would do that differently. I know many think we will end up with a bunch of confused adults but maybe we will actually end up with better adjusted adults due to them not spending years feeling they are abnormal and wrong. 

 

It's definitely not a big topic of discussion in our very conservative town. There is a GSA (gay straight alliance club) at the high school but it's small and unfortunately mostly made up of kids who can't tell their parents due to their beliefs. One student's parent teaches at the high school and when he tried to tell them they threatened conversion therapy so he told them he was joking. Now, he's just waiting until he's old enough to leave. 

 

Ds is the only transgender student at his high school at the moment and it definitely hasn't caused some outbreak of others. There are many who have been vocal on his behalf regarding some issues, though. There are a small handful of other LGBT students but again there aren't a lot of students suddenly deciding they are as well. No one here would choose to be looked at like many in this community view them. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by Joker

[SparklyUnicorn]

 

 

Ds is the only transgender student at his high school at the moment and it definitely hasn't caused some outbreak of others. There are many who have been vocal on his behalf regarding some issues, though. There are a small handful of other LGBT students but again there aren't a lot of students suddenly deciding they are as well. No one here would choose to be looked at like many in this community view them. 

 

See and here there are many.  In my younger son's choir group of 100 student there were three at one point.  There are three in my older son's drama class (of 15 students) and one in my other son's drama class. 

 

Not sure what to make of that. 

[wonderchica]

See and here there are many. In my younger son's choir group of 100 student there were three at one point. There are three in my older son's drama class (of 15 students) and one in my other son's drama class.

 

Not sure what to make of that.

Well, the arts, particularly performing arts, have always been more of a haven for LBGTQ folks. Maybe there’s some self-selection going on there? I suspect you wouldn’t find the same numbers in a public school math class or baseball team, for example.

[Ravin]

I don't ever recall sitting down and explaining a list of terms. My kids have grown up in a poly household, with a trans parent, and the understanding that romantic love can be between any two people regardless of gender. I'm sure they've heard the term "gay" and grasp what it means (if DS didn't before, well, he's been in the room playing minecraft through me binge-watching several seasons of Will and Grace recently.) 

 

And DD told me like 6 months ago she thinks she might be lesbian, so...she knows what that means at least.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Ravin

[SparklyUnicorn]

Well, the arts, particularly performing arts, have always been more of a haven for LBGTQ folks. Maybe there’s some self-selection going on there? I suspect you wouldn’t find the same numbers in a public school math class or baseball team, for example.

 

Yes, the drama class in particular.  The choir..no not so much.  Although they have been cool about it.

 

HOWEVER...I do think there is a bit of ...I don't know the word...something going on in the drama.  Three transmales?  Started off with one...and now his two friends joined in?  I have my doubts truth be told.

 

Eh..whatta ya gonna do? 

[Tsuga]

My kids only do extracurricular activities with public schooled kids.  They are hearing it there.  We are atheists so of course we don't go to church. 

 

I'm not worried about turning someone gay.  I hope that is not how what I said came across. 

 

I think when you said that your children were being confused by all the talk about being gay, that is how it came across to me but clearly I brought my own bias into that.

 

But it's clear now.

 

As for the extracurriculars... it sounds like a really specific group. My kids know gay people (I'm talking about the HSers now) but it never came up as a big discussion. More like, "You can't like him, he's gay." "Well I can still think he's cute!"

[Tsuga]

Yes, the drama class in particular.  The choir..no not so much.  Although they have been cool about it.

 

HOWEVER...I do think there is a bit of ...I don't know the word...something going on in the drama.  Three transmales?  Started off with one...and now his two friends joined in?  I have my doubts truth be told.

 

Eh..whatta ya gonna do? 

 

That is a lot of drastic change, I agree... but who knows.

[Bluegoat]

Yeah I don't know what to make of it really.  I do live in a very liberal area.  So maybe this varies from place to place? But I feel like this is a constant topic of discussion around here among kids (and others).  It's a topic that even made it into a play my kids are both performing in.  It's only a mention, but it's there.  The teacher often writes in current topics.  I'm ok with it.  Not saying I have a problem with it, but for people to tell me I might be imagining the prevalence of this topic or I'm discussing it at church (which is funny cuz I'm an atheist)....obviously we must have very different realities!

 

There was a uhhh freak out locally not too long ago.  A school had some sort of health presentation that was about sexual orientation and transgendered.  There were packets of information that were intended for high school students and a different set of packets for younger kids.  Wellll the high school packet ended up being given to the younger kids and it had very graphic language (even stuff like fag hag...descriptions of sex acts, etc.).  Needless to say parents were angry.  I don't mind talking about these things with my kids, but no honestly I don't want a school doing that with my young kid.  High school..I'm ok with that. 

 

It's talked about here a lot too.  All the schools have clubs, there was a book about it in my dd's grade 6 classroom - a novel, it's on tv a lot and the radio.

[SKL]

Back in the 1990s it was trendy to say you were gay or lesbian in high school.  The stats appeared to balloon for a year or two before it stopped being trendy.

 

[EMS83]

It hasn't come up, so no.  :)

[Bluegoat]

Back in the 1990s it was trendy to say you were gay or lesbian in high school.  The stats appeared to balloon for a year or two before it stopped being trendy.

 

And then there was the 70's.

[rocassie]

My two oldest have asked at various times.  Only my oldest asked specifically what the term "gay" meant upon reading it in a book as we had previously discussed the term "homosexual."  I don't think either of them have asked about "straight", and it hasn't been something I have made a point to address.

[nixpix5]

Yes, the drama class in particular. The choir..no not so much. Although they have been cool about it.

 

HOWEVER...I do think there is a bit of ...I don't know the word...something going on in the drama. Three transmales? Started off with one...and now his two friends joined in? I have my doubts truth be told.

 

Eh..whatta ya gonna do?

I worked in a super small montessori school and most of the kids had gone through the whole program into our middle school. Out of a cohort or 36 students, 14 eventually reported being gay/bi/trans/pansexual. These were kids that aside from 1 student, never showed any early signs at all. It was definitely super trendy in our program. One parent said no to binding and counseling toward reassignment and was blasted by our parent population. That student is no longer trans and reports that it was a phase. I so think many of these kids will ride the trend and not identify later in life. It is the zeitgeist but we still need to honor their feelings in case it is truly how they will later.

[SparklyUnicorn]

when my kids turn 13 i tell them that they are gay and they know by then because of tv and and websites they go to

 

Um..huh?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Back in the 1990s it was trendy to say you were gay or lesbian in high school.  The stats appeared to balloon for a year or two before it stopped being trendy.

 

I do not recall this trend. 

[Tanaqui]

Right. I see a future of a whole bunch of very confused young adults.

 

So, no different from the present or the past, then. It's a confusing period in any individual's life.

 

[poppy]

I think Edgar Allen Poe was one of the authors who used the term ejaculated a lot, to mean "exclaim".  I was trying to remember a really funny one (something like "It's an egg!" my friend ejaculated) and went to look it up. And , long story short, I do not recommending Googling the word "ejaculated" in any context.

[nixpix5]

I do not recall this trend.

It might have been regional. In the city I lived in it was trendy to be bi in the 90s for girls. We had lots of girls identifying this way and LOTS of the teen boys wanting to date bi girls in the hope it might lead to something for him. So atleast in my area I remember it well.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I think Edgar Allen Poe was one of the authors who used the term ejaculated a lot, to mean "exclaim".  I was trying to remember a really funny one (something like "It's an egg!" my friend ejaculated) and went to look it up. And , long story short, I do not recommending Googling the word "ejaculated" in any context.

 

:lol:

[SparklyUnicorn]

It might have been regional. In the city I lived in it was trendy to be bi in the 90s for girls. We had lots of girls identifying this way and LOTS of the teen boys wanting to date bi girls in the hope it might lead to something for him. So atleast in my area I remember it well.

 

What area were you from?

 

It's entirely possible I didn't notice despite it being a thing.

[goldberry]

Re: terminology, DD was 4 I think when she asked me what abortion was.  Gay was much easier to answer.

[goldberry]

I think Edgar Allen Poe was one of the authors who used the term ejaculated a lot, to mean "exclaim".  I was trying to remember a really funny one (something like "It's an egg!" my friend ejaculated) and went to look it up. And , long story short, I do not recommending Googling the word "ejaculated" in any context.

 

:lol:

[SKL]

Re: terminology, DD was 4 I think when she asked me what abortion was.  Gay was much easier to answer.

 

Yeah, my kids were 6 when they heard about a little girl being "assaulted" and murdered in a nearby city.  They wanted to know what "assaulted" meant.  I have to admit I was not complete in my answer to that one.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Dd4 has a class mate with two dads, so she knows that sometimes men marry men and women marry women. She doesn’t know the word gay.

 

We were once at a restaurant and she pointed to a table with two women eating together. “Look mommy! Women can marry women!†I told her it was just two women sharing a meal, but after a second glance, I think they actually were on a date. Kids can pick up on so much, even when they don’t have all the words.

[Pegasus]

I chuckled when I saw the title of this thread as I recently had to ask my DDs (ages 18 and 21) what some terms meant. I know better than to Google anything as things seen cannot be unseen.  There are so many more terms now with lots of nuances beyond simply "straight" and "gay."

[goldberry]

I chuckled when I saw the title of this thread as I recently had to ask my DDs (ages 18 and 21) what some terms meant. I know better than to Google anything as things seen cannot be unseen.  There are so many more terms now with lots of nuances beyond simply "straight" and "gay."

 

Yeah, I recently had to ask DD about pansexual...

[QueenCat]

I don't recall setting aside time to discuss it. Things like that just come up during the course of everyday life. 

[Above The Rowan]

I don't remember ever actually defining gay as in homosexuality to my kids. We've always had friends of all different sexual orientations and it was kind of unspoken here. Also I tried to avoid heteronormative terms when I talk to my kids - so it was always just kind of understood that they may grow up to love different gender, same gender, or none at all and all of those would be fine.

 

The first time I had to define gay as in 'happy' was reading one of the Burgess animal books I think - a robin was singing 'gaily' and my daughter (maybe 7 at the time) scoffed and said 'well, gay singing and straight singing would be the same' :lol: So, I had to explain that at one time, the use of 'gay' meant something different than how it's generally used now.