Whew I think I handled that OK

Today's after-school conversation brought to you by the letter "G" as we define the meaning of gay. And "I" for incest?!

This morning while I'm combing my 5 year old's hair, she says she's considering of having a boyfriend. And as the conversation progresses, she reveals that she's thinking of her 9 year old brother. Now while it warms my heart that she loves her brother so, I tell her that no Big Brother E can't be her boyfriend because he's her brother.

Cut to this afternoon when I'm telling said big brother this story. And he replies, "Ew no! That would be weirder than being gay." Never having had a conversation with him about homosexuality (or really any sexuality--bad momma), I ask him what gay means.

He replies by giving the example of a girl dating a girl. OK so his playground source of info has his facts straight on this at least.

This leads to a conversation with both kiddos about what gay is and the fact that it's not weird, it's different. Because I happen to believe you're either born gay or not. And how would they like someone to call them weird (or worse) because they're brown and their hair is different, which is something I worry about because we do live in Oregon, and it's not exactly diverse.

So anyway, the conversation goes on and I point out that Ellen DeGeneres, whose show I watch daily so the kids know who she is, is gay and that she's married to a woman. At which point my 5 year old starts jumping up and down and chanting she hopes she's gay because she wants to marry her best friend. At which point I point out that gay also means happy. To which Big Brother E replies to his sister, "You're gay you're gay." As in you're happy you're gay.

Somehow the conversation moves on to children when sissy speculates that she and her future wife will argue over who gets to be the mom and who gets to be the dad. I reply that neither will be the dad. And they'd probably have to adopt.

Why oh why am I still in this conversation?! Because you know what comes next. Big Brother who has seen me pregnant with his sisters is wondering why they both couldn't just have babies instead of adopting. Well because a woman doesn't just have a baby by herself; a man is involved, I reply.

And thankfully the conversation ended there before we turned into an after-school special also brought to you by the letters "S" and "P" for sex and procreation.

Whew! At least they gave me something to write about today. But I could see my 9 year old's wheels turning; it's time for the dreaded TALK.