We're doing something right...

It was just one of the six cancelled school days due to snow this year, and I was getting ready for the day when I overheard Caden (7) and Alayna (6) getting into a deep conversation that I wasn't prepared for. I eaves-dropped for a little while before deciding that I better step in...quick. Their discussion went something like this:

C: Do you know what it means to be gay?
A: No.
C: Layna, do you know what gay means? It means that you have sex with people.
A: [Silence]
C: Alayna, did you hear me? [pause] Joey in my class is gay.
A: I don't care. I'm not listening to you.

Whew! at least she wasn't drawing out that conversation. But, I couldn't just ignore it. There were so many issues going on in this two-minute conversation, that I didn't even know where to begin. So, I took a deep breath, wished that Jarin would've been home to handle this one, and prayed for God give me the strength to respond correctly. I first gave Alayna some tasks to keep her busy and then pulled Cade aside for a sit-down discussion.

To my surprise, this truly couldn't have ended any better. We talked about him not having a clear understanding of what gay is, or even what it means to have sex, and how it is a bad idea to use those words without knowing the meaning. I asked if he had questions about either of the terms (he didn't, thank God), and then told him that when he is ready to learn about those words he needs to ask, not just throw them around. 

Then, we went to the next stage of the conversation, which was the bullying that was taking place with Joey. He, of course, claimed to not call him those names at school; but I told him that even laughing at other kids who call someone names is a form of bullying. We talked about how Joey might feel during these times of name-calling and what he could do about it. At this point, I really anticipated that Cade felt bad, but I wasn't done. So I gave him an assignment to write two letters to anyone he thought might need an apology for his poor decisions. Each letter needed to be 3 sentences in length, and he needed to work independently. 

Boy, was he irritated with me, but he did such an amazing job. I couldn't be more proud....

For the sake of the classmate's privacy, his name has been changed within the blog entry and blurred out in the photo.