Well it has finally happened. McKenna's new best friend at school has two Moms. I suppose it was only a matter of time. I fear this will be a bit tricky to handle.
I met them one day when I stayed after school to let the kids play on the playground for a while. The family came over just to introduce themselves to me. They had heard so much about McKenna from their daughter Zoe so I guess they figured it was time for parent introductions. Amber (who I had met at the open house) reintroduced herself and then introduced me to her partner Julie.
We talked for a while and I was a bit taken back with how forthcoming they were with personal info. Maybe they felt that it was better to just get it all out there. I have a feeling there will be invites to outside-of-school activities. I enjoyed talking to them very much and I think that we can be "friends because our kids are friends", but it does put me in a delicate situation.
Zoe is a great girl and she attached herself to McKenna right away. She spent last year as the only white/blond haired/super tall/with glasses girl in her class. I guess she got a lot of flack for it and never really had a good friend. Well, in walks McKenna who is white/blond/with glasses (but not so tall) and Zoe found her new BFF. So how do I explain our religious beliefs about homosexuality to a seven-year-old in a way that she will understand and still be sensitive to Zoe. The last thing I want is for McKenna to say "Having two moms is wrong and God doesn't like it". What a nightmare that would be. I would never want Zoe to feel bad about her situation. She has two Moms and a Dad. She is very loved. But....it's wrong in the eyes of God.
Now is the point where McKenna has to learn that the world is not simple. That she needs to love and accept the person even if she knows what they are doing is wrong. She needs to understand that what she says to Zoe about what we believe could really hurt her feelings and possibly end a friendship. That is some really heavy stuff for a seven-year-old who just wants to play with her new friend.
Now I have a headache.
Wow that is really tricky! Good thing you are a good mom who is very kind to everyone!
ReplyDeleteTalk to Steph about this. One of Kira's longtime friends has two Moms. Maybe Steph will have some insights.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shay, I will give her a call. I am interested to see what Kira's take on the situation was, and how Steph handled it.
ReplyDeleteTHIS is how Steph handled it: we explained that sometimes men are romantically attracted to men and women are romantically attracted to other women. While we don't believe it's right to live that way, we also knew the moms in question to be good people.
ReplyDeleteKira said, "Ew, gross," and that was pretty much the end of it. They did a few out-of-school things, but Kira and the friend were both so busy it wasn't much of an issue. She and the girl were good friends for most of the year, until the girl decided that she'd rather be friends with the girly, boy-crazy, clothes-conscious makeup-wearing clique.
The end.
I have no advice being as you're dealing with Mommy Lesbians and not the two sister species I'm familiar with: Lipstick and Lumberjack.
ReplyDelete