 I am an East Coast expatriate hiding out in the Midwest... I am an urban gal living in the suburbs and occasionally hiding in the country I am a yoga practitioner, fitness enthusiast, believer in the mind-body-spirit connection... I am a mid-life "revert" to the Roman Catholic faith in which I was raised and which has become an enormous source of support, encouragement, inspiration, and joy in my life... I am a mom, sister, daughter, and wife... I am an explorer; adventurous and curious about the world and people around me... I am educated in the formal sense but I gain insight through everyday living... I created this blog at a time of great fear and apprehension in my life. I chose to sustain it because of the discoveries about myself and the world around me that it has revealed. What you can expect to find here: the documentation of a love-hate relationship with the greater Philadelphia area
reminiscing about the good-ole-days (the 80's!)
complaints about my various ailments and injuries, both real and imagined
pictures and stories of gardening, decorating, shopping, sewing
my love of irony
links to kooky news stories
way too much scatological musing for sane people
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Sunday, February 20, 2005
My So-Called Preschool Life
Before Buster Baxter had the opportunity to raise questions about homosexual relationships in my household, Homer J. and the Simpsons crew beat him to it. This week's episode featured a plot premise in which the charm-challeneged hamlet of Springfield legalized gay marriage in order to encourage gay tourism in town. Needless to say, before I could change the channel, my little one saw some exaggerated cartoon depictions of men holding hands and kissing thus prompting her to ask:
"Mommy, what do you call it when a man is in love with a man?"
I knew the question would come up eventually and I already planned a simple kid-level explanation but was muddled in my endeavors by the fact that her godfather - who happens to be single, in his late 30's, well-dressed, neat (get the picture?) - was over for a visit and was in the adjacent room. I felt REALLY on the spot then!
"It's called 'gay.' When a man loves a man or a woman loves a woman it's called being 'gay'. There are gay people all over the world." (To add a multi-culti spin, I felt obligated to add that factoid.)
"But I love Bobby," she continued. Bobby is a fellow 5-year old classmate, the object of her first - and surprisingly long-lasting crush. He is, naturally, the class "bad boy", cute, somewhat sullen and yet "too cool for school." In other words, he's the preschool Jaret Leto to her wide-eyed Clare Danes.
"Yes. You love boys and want to kiss boys so you are not gay." (Did I say that?!?)
"Oh. Ok. Now I get it." Case closed. Whew! That was easier than I thought.
Posted at 11:26 pm by brandy101
 | Posted by skar @ 02/28/2005 08:29 PM PST | | this was the BEST way i have ever heard homosexuality explained! when i was young and innocent my mother explained it as 'a disgusting sin that will send you straight to hell'.
im going to copy/paste this entry and put it away somewhere for the inevitable day when i have children and they ask that question. | |
| Posted by mrs. diamond @ 02/26/2005 07:24 PM PST | | | yikes...sounds like you did good though! | |
| Posted by Greg @ 02/22/2005 12:38 PM PST | | | I have a "well-dressed" brother, and I remember at another brothers wedding, one of the guests asked who this other strange man was. I said, "Oh, that's my brother's...um, friend." She immediately replied, "Oh, he's not gay, is he?" Hahaha. | |
| Posted by brandy101 @ 02/21/2005 05:31 PM PST | | | ha! I recall using that term to mean something "lame" when I was, say, 8 or 9 years old...but back then I had no idea of any ALTERNATE meanings! Thus, couldn' have been a "hate crime" among us utterly innocent kids back in the day... | |
| Posted by chrysalis @ 02/21/2005 12:59 PM PST | | | I found out over the weekend that my two teenagers' high school has a new speech code, and that as a consequense, use of the word "gay" in any sense is a punishable offense. Apparently the term has, in teen parlance, taken on the connotation of "lame," as in "This class project is, like, totally gay." | |
| Posted by Miss Ginger @ 02/21/2005 09:28 AM PST | | | Here, too. My eldest ("Veronica", we had a good laugh at that last night) asked "Oh, so she likes girls?" . I said "Yep, some boys like boys and some girls like girls". She just shrugged and said "Oh, ok". | |
| Posted by brandy101 @ 02/21/2005 09:26 AM PST | | | hmm, not sure I'm familiar with those acronyms...I'll have to google them later. | |
| Posted by Gigglesbee @ 02/21/2005 08:43 AM PST | | Ugh...I hate those questions! You want to be honest so they understand, but you don't want them to keep asking more questions. lol
You did very well...you should be proud of yourself! :) | |
| Posted by Nic @ 02/21/2005 08:15 AM PST | | | could have been worse, try explaining wmw or mwm or for that matter try explaining Me hehehe | |
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