watervole: (Default)
Judith Proctor ([personal profile] watervole) wrote2004-09-07 03:12 pm

conversations with parents

My youngest son (age 17) and I had been having a long natter before he went to bed. Before he went, he said, "I bet not many children can have conversations like this with their parents."

Looking back over the conversation, I have to agree that he's probably right.

His contemporaries at school are still at the stage where gay people are regarded as odd. He met my first openly gay friend when he was about five. He's been aware of my writing slash for most of his life. He doesn't blink at Lesbians, bisexuals or anything else. What other kids of his age regard as strange or kinky is already old hat for him.

He doesn't actually read my stuff, he just seems to pick up the backgroud by osmosis. We'd been watching a very slashy DS9 episode with Garak and Bashir which was what sparked off the conversation, but by the time we'd finished, we'd drifted through bondage and polyamory and various other bits and pieces.

I think what I like is the feeling that he doesn't regard people as laughable or as objects for derision if their sexual tastes happen to differ from the norm. People simply are what they are.

He's a lovely lad and I shall miss him like hell when he goes to university next year.

[identity profile] spacefall.livejournal.com 2004-09-07 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I wish that more parents would take that attitude. Being out at secondary school can be nerve-wracking, but it's made less so by the presence of sane persons like your son. Good luck to him with uni.

[identity profile] snowgrouse.livejournal.com 2004-09-07 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
That's so wonderful:). You are an amazing mother to have and a very smart kid. If I spoke to my mother about bondage or anal sex or polyamory she'd have a stroke.

[identity profile] altariel.livejournal.com 2004-09-12 11:21 am (UTC)(link)
I remember chatting briefly with your older son at... not the last Redemption but the one before, I think. A smashing lad and a credit to you both.