Parenting

Here’s how to avoid your bundles of joy from absolutely shredding your relationship…

If I had grown up with a more complete picture of sex up to that point, would I have felt less horrified that day?

I’m pretty sure that the vast majority of kids understand the whole hierarchy of adulthood thing. I’ve worked in daycares and volunteered in my kids’ schools. The children there (who called me by my first name, gasp!) never seemed to think that they shouldn’t take direction from me or be respectful of me because I have a first name. Then again, I also don’t assume that, by magic, the second the clock stuck on my 18th birthday, I attained a higher station in life.

Sexual orientation is not a lifestyle and gay people are not a monolith. Much as women are all individuals with different wants, needs, and preferences, so are gay people, bi people, asexual people, polyamorous people, and pansexual people (also people who present gender differently that the usual male/female binary but gender identity is a different thing than sexual orientation and will likely be the subject of a whole different essay).

It’s the 21st century and there are still dad stereotypes that are not only anti-feminist but also downright backwards thinking that need to stop. But you can’t stop something until you know what it is, so here is a list:

A couple of days into my period my family and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner. Halfway through my father said he could, “smell my maxi pads in the garbage in the bathroom.” I was horrified and instantly started to cry.

You’ve met someone who you actually like. There you are, on your first date, and you think, I can’t believe how well this is going.

Every parent is afraid of something happening to their children; that comes with the territory. When we allow our fears to prevent our children from following their dreams, however, we do them a disservice.