The other day Devlin mentioned to his auntie Grace that he had seen two boys kissing on the t.v. show Brothers and Sisters. First off, we do not make a habit of letting our kids watch such television shows, or any t.v. after 9pm. But he had woken up and wanted to snuggle with Mommy and Daddy. He crawled between us, wrapped a blanket around us, and we thought he had fallen asleep.
For those of you who never watch the show, there are two male, gay characters (Scottie and Kevin) who are married to one another. I love the show because the dysfunctionality of the loving family reminds me of my own crazy but happy family. Despite whatever problems they must face, the family members all unite together to offer support and there's generally a happy ending at the end of the hour.
Anyways, back to the topic at hand. Devlin must have glimpsed a scene where Scottie and Kevin share an embrace and a kiss. He never made mention of it to us, nor did he ask us any questions. But in chatting with Auntie Grace, he brought it up, out of the blue. Auntie Grace, being the teacher that she is, asked him how he felt after seeing that. Was it weird? Was it gross? Devlin pronounced it weird because boys are supposed to kiss girls, not other boys.
That could have been the end of that, but as I've mentioned before, Devlin is starting to tell jokes. Or attempting to tell jokes. Maybe he's inherited his father's quirk for telling bad/corny jokes.
So, Devlin says, "I have a joke to tell you Mommy. Two boys kissed and then got married!" He laughed in that crazy way that 5 year olds laugh when they think something is funny or gross or both.
I swallowed the response "it's only funny if you're living in Alabama or Texas" and instead sat down to explain that it couldn't be a joke, because boys can marry boys. And girls can marry girls.
Understandably, Devlin was confused. "No, boys are supposed to marry girls," was his emphatic response.
Wow, this is a conversation no parent would have had with their 5 year old a generation ago. Back then it was simple. Boys kissed girls. First came love, then marriage, and then the baby carriage. Now I have to teach my little boy that sometimes, boys will like boys, and girls will like girls. Sometimes, boys will marry boys, and sometimes, there will be babies too. Utterly confusing and difficult to grasp. Even for many adults today. There's never a right or wrong time to start teaching tolerance, acceptance and political correctness. I just thought I'd have a few more years of pure baby innocence before having to explain such intricacies of life. At least he hasn't asked me where babies come from...yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment