TinyHuman is fortunate enough to be part of an extremely accepting village where we only care that everyone is happy and healthy.
He is surrounded by a village of people who are actively either a part of the LGBTQ+ community or whole-hearted supporters. He’ll grow in a village full of people who will love him no matter what, and for that he is so incredibly lucky. Not everyone has so much luck.
We don’t care who you are.
In our village we have had people in same sex relationships, sexualities questioned, identity and gender queries. None of it is ever questioned.
I don’t recall a time where it was ever necessary to “come out”, it was just a case of introducing a partner to the family exactly the same as would happen in a heterosexual relationship.
When the discussion of gender identification came up, the only question was how to correctly use the different pronouns. What’s the non-binary version of Mr/Mrs? What’s the non-binary word for Auntie/Uncle?*
*We went with Bibi as our own version of Auntie/Uncle. For example instead of Auntie Jane, it would be Bibi Jane.
So how do I teach my son to be so accepting?
Assuming that my son is anything like me, then he will have no issue with accepting people for who they are. But he’ll have questions. I ask 1001 questions a day about gender identity and different sexualities. I’m not asking to be a d*ck or to make anyone uncomfortable. I want to understand so that I can do my best to be inclusive and not unintentionally offensive.
So I want to guide TinyHuman through it as he grows up. I want him to age appropriately understand. So his Bibi has been looking into some resources for us to teach him about people and their differences.
They found lots of different ways to teach children of lots of different ages…
YouTube Channels
We’ve been looking at the YouTube Channel Queer Kid Stuff. There are lots of different educational videos between three and seven minutes long. They talk about different gender identities and sexualities in a way that is appropriate and easy for a child to understand. They even have awesome guest stars!
Books!
There have been lots of books for children about being different and accepting yourself. There are also a number of books about diversity and friendship. Two of the books in our shopping basket are Different is Not Bad by Steve Herman, and It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn. Another one in our basket that we feel is important is Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder.
This one is for the Parents/Caregivers!
In their research for how to explain things such as Gender Identity to children, TinyHuman’s Bibi found a page explaining children’s different developmental gender identities to parents! It is a very interesting read. Click here to give it a read.
A visual aid game from TinyHuman’s Bibi!
Bibi personally likes the idea of thinking about it a little bit in terms of learning how different categories work. Like sorting blue and green buttons and realising that there are some buttons that aren’t blue or green, or have a blue side and a green side, or that you can’t tell by looking at them which category they fit in, because they’re a blue-green colour.
Ultimately, it’s up to you!
How you decide to teach your child to be accepting and understanding is up to you entirely. Together lets do our best to raise kind, accepting and loving tiny humans.
