Kiddipedia
Shane Warren
Recently I was at a conference and I ran into a mother of a child who was a ‘close’ friend of my eldest in day-care. This in itself is not an all too uncommon experience, but it reminded me of our last encounter…
It was one of those children’s birthday parties where all the class was invited – I have more to share about birthday parties, but at a later date – and my son was as excited as a 3-year old can be about these things. Anyway, doing the polite thing at pick up one afternoon this sweet-looking lady nervously approaches me to introduce herself as the mother of the birthday boy. I graciously acknowledged her and spoke of my son’s excitement about the party to which I was told: “About that, I need to withdraw the invitation as I did not realise you where that family and my husband and I don’t want our son to be influenced by such lifestyle choices. I’m sure you understand but it is about our belief…”
A little shocked, but not too shocked as she did speak with a mid-American accent; I first enquired to check “what is ‘that family’?” Where it was confirmed that as a Christian family, they had an issue with two men raising children…
So, now you know the context this encounter got me thinking about how a family like ours confronts the experience of ‘coming out’ nearly every day. On almost a weekly level we find ourselves in a situation having to explain that we are a two-dad-household, my children confidently tell people when asked: ‘we don’t have a mother, just two dads.’ Innocent as it is for our children, concerning it is for their dad’s as we worry whether or not they may be rejected or judged for what is their reality.
Which in turn is interesting, don’t you think? As we all know families are different all over the place – some have only one parent, some have grandparents as careers, others have a mum and dad that are not biological, some do… but I think this experience is worth reflecting upon and how many assumptions we might make in regards to the family dynamic of the friends our children are playing within the school yard…
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