I went to my cousins for tea tonight an their little girl (6) had been quiet all evening, which is most unusual for her. Her dad is working nights and her mum needed a few bits of shopping an asked if I could bath her and put her to bed while run to the supermarket. Almost as soon as her mum had left, she turned to me and said, "I need to talk to you about grown up stuff" Me: Ok, but if there are any questions, I think you are not old enough to know the answer to, or I think I should ask your mum before I answer you, I promise I will get back to you after I have talked to her OK? Her: Ok Me: Fire away then Her: Is Natasha your best friend? Me: Natasha is my best friend but she is also my Girlfriend, do you remember the talk that we all had last time we where here, that me and Natasha love one another the same way mummy and daddy do, and that it doesn't matter who you love, two boys can love one another or two girls or a boy and a girl. Her: Yeah, do you want to get married to Natasha, like uncle Mick and aunty Bren? Me: Maybe one day, why? Her But you can't have a wedding in our church can you? (Church of England) Me: No, we can't at the moment, but maybe one day? Her: Thats not fair, uncle James and Aunty Kay got married in our church and the only time they ever go to church is if someone is born or dies or to other peoples weddings, you and Natasha come to church every week with me and Mummy but your not allowed. Me: Who told you this? Her: The older Sunday school kids where talking about it and there are three gay boys and two gay girls in the group and they said that they are going to leave the church if they can't get married in the church they have grown up in, I want to leave too, and I think we all should. Me: Ok this is where I say I need to talk to your mum, but you, me, Natasha, Mummy and Daddy will talk about this again on Saturday I promise, now go brush your teeth and jump in bed you have school tomorrow. Mummy will be up to tuck you in and say prayers in ten minutes. When her mum come back from the shops she went and said good night etc and came back down. Rach: Did you manage to get anything out of her, because she's just told me she's too angry with God to say her prayers Me: Yep, I know exactly whats wrong and you better sit down, we need a plan before Sunday. I then recounted te conversation we had but came up blank with how to explain to six year old, be that a very perseptive 6 year old, that it isn't God that is preventing us from getting married but the leaders of the faith, without her losing her faith completely. I was tempted to try and explain that although we can't get married at our church and we are not allowed to have any religious elements to our wedding aka civil partnership, it doesn't matter where we get married, so long as we believe in God, and that he is always with us, then we will still be married in the eyes of God. But I don't want her to think that I condon the stance that CoE are taking, or know how to put it in terms a six year old would understand. I know this isn't a coming out story, but I thought it was a nice reminder that even the very small children can be some of our biggest allies.
This shows that homophobia is not born into people. It is taught. That's so nice that a little girl is so supportive of gays! It makes me happy. This gives me hope for a brighter future.
I'm sorry that the situation with your church is difficult, but this is a beautiful story. Children see a lot more than we think and, in cases like this, they often see with a purity and fairness and innocence we could all use a little more of.
Thats a very cute story Definitely a touchy subject to handle. I sometimes think about how, if I do have kids, I would raise my kids when it comes to religion.
This story made me smile, as far as the six year old being so supportive. I wish all small children were taught correctly about homosexuality like they are today about minorities like black people for example. I mean we learn about MLK in first grade, we learn about black history month, but we don't learn about anything LGBT related. Thanks for sharing the story though
And so is religion. This. Sorry, I don't mean to be offensive. But if we could just all grow up with none of these things and choose them freely once we are old enough, I think there'd be a lot more tolerance and a lot less fights about wether homosexuality/a certain belief/... is right or wrong because we hadn't grown up with those strict "rules" -this bad, that good. I think life would be a lot nicer.
Eh, religion is much more than just being told what to do and what you are supposed to believe. Its a way to cope with the hard times that life might throw at you and a way to make sense of the world. I'm grateful that my parents raised my Roman Catholic. Its something that helped me a lot through out my life. Yes, they go against homosexuality, but thats just one aspect of it.
I love it how children get underestimated and then come out with stuff like this. People get mixed up in the 'innocence' of children and forget they can see everything happening around them, at times they see much more then adults do.
This is such a wonderful story-- it made me smile <3 I think that people underestimate kids a lot. Children, like this six year old, can sometimes be wiser than most adults. <3
Awww... that made my day! It wonderful. And true. A child hasn't had the thoughts of the world pressed on them, hasn't been told that what a specific group of people say is right and wrong are the only way. They see the truth. If only every child could be brought up like this, imagine how our world would look?
