this week's child rearing In the segment, a parent doesn't know how to explain to their kids why their uncle doesn't have a girlfriend.
“My brother is gay and very close to his two daughters,” they said. Moncrief.
“Recently they started asking why he doesn't have a wife. I tried to explain to them that not all men have wives and not all women have husbands.
“They don't seem to understand…There are more questions than answers.”
They said the children may be even more confused because their uncle had a girlfriend when he was younger, before coming out as gay.
“My brother is a big part of their lives, and I want them to feel as comfortable with his situation as they would with anyone else,” the parent said.
Child psychotherapist Joanna Fortune said the easiest way to explain to children that their uncle is gay is to just say it.
“Let's call him Uncle James. Uncle James is gay, so he dates men and has a boyfriend,” she said. “that's OK.
“At one stage he had a girlfriend, so you can say, 'Yeah, he had a girlfriend, and now he realizes he likes men more.'
“Children are capable of understanding things more than we give them credit for, so let's tell them directly.”
direct parenting
Joanna said adults tend to be a bit “complicated” when it comes to social issues, but children are more open and honest.
“Depending on the age of the person, if they're around 9 or 10 years old, and they can't say it in 10 words or less, say it in a different way,” she says.
“And you would like to [say]”Boys can marry boys and people can love whoever they love. That's great.”
Joanna said the publisher, Usborne, is known for publishing a variety of books that explain different family relationships and identities.
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