I'll do my best, at any rate.

[familyvalues]

My son is gay. Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.

I cried when I read this blog post. I have thought a lot over the years about what raising a daughter would be like, how to help her be strong and bold and happy and, as one website I read calls it, how to "redefine girly." I'm only now starting to think more about what it's like to grow up a boy, to raise a boy. Guess what: Doing it well is hard. My friend Lisa, who raised three awesome sons, shared something with me that I'm saving in the baby book: "Raising boys is awesome fun. And raising boys WELL is one of the most important thing you can do for gender equality, in my opinion. You're raising the future, my dear, do it well. :-D"

Comments

[0jack]

I loved that post so much. The whole concept of being pretty is such a unique one, it's a shame that most men aren't allowed and encouraged to embrace it. I agree with Lisa on raising boys. They are marvellously sensitive little creatures.

On the subject, Scarleteen blogged a while back about the impact of sexual encounters on the future prospects of teens. It made for great reading and reminded me, again, of how inherently sensitive young men are. My brain keeps wanting to make some kind of parallel with infant-male circumcision and what society does to them emotionally, but that situates maleness in the genitals and it's not really there...

I'm going to bed now. <3

[dantesspirit]

That was an awesome post. Bravo for her standing up to what society deems as 'wrong'.

He's FIVE! For crying out loud! He shouldn't have to worry about what others will say about him at that age!