Build your library
Message written By Priya Howell
June is Pride Month and if you are a parent, it is the perfect time to check in with your kids about what they know about Pride. I'm a heterosexual, cisgender female, and if you are too, I know this may not be the first thing you think of in June. It is easy to assume that kids these days know everything already, or you may think they are too young to learn about sexual orientation or gender identity. That's why I wanted to share this story.
A couple of weeks ago, we went to get our pictures taken by Irish Eyes Photography as a fundraiser for the Hingham Pride Project. While there, my kids asked if they could buy baseball caps with their new H logo. The logo has the colors of the Progress Flag imposed over the Hingham H we are used to seeing on all things Hingham. Although we easily already have 6x as many hats as we have heads, I couldn't say no. On the way home, we had a great conversation with our kids about what it means to be LGBTQ+, and why symbols of inclusion are important, when one of our 7-year-olds asked me why we gave back our old flag and got a new one.
A few days later, my daughter, a 5th grader, wore her hat to school. At recess, a child noticed her hat and asked her about it. When she came home, she recounted the story to me as follows: he asked me what it meant, and I told him about it. He was looking at me kind of surprised and when I finished he just said that it was weird. I asked him why he thought it was weird, and he just shrugged and was like I don't know it just is. I told him I didn't think there was anything weird about it at all.
Of course, I was incredibly proud of her. She not only explained what her hat stood for (so now I know that despite being a tween, she sometimes still listens to me), but when challenged, she stood firm.
As far as I know, my daughter does not identify as LGBTQ+ but at this age any kid could still be figuring things out. Imagine how it would feel for a tween, or teen, or really any person at any age, to be told they are weird, or worse? Unfortunately, this happens regularly, in part, because we don't normalize being LGBTQ+.
Although I don't know his parents well, my guess is that if they read this, they would not recognize their child in this story. I don't believe that this kid was trying to be hurtful, at least not yet. Our children are accustomed to living in a pretty homogenous community, and in that community, identifying as LGBTQ+ is not the norm. To him, it was "weird" because (I speculate) his experience does not include the normalization of this type of diversity.
I believe we all want to raise an inclusive child, but to do this we need to make sure that our kids are not holding up the heteronormative society they are being raised in as the benchmark of "normal."
So, for pride month, I encourage you all to not only request and display a Progress Flag from the Hingham Pride Project, but also to talk to your kids positively about sexual orientation and gender identity. Keep that conversation going all year long, and be deliberate about exposing your children to things that do not center the heteronormative experience. Attend Pride events around the south shore, and make sure your child is reading books that feature LGBTQ+ protagonists (and people of color too!).
Need ideas for books by age? The Hingham Pride Project has you covered! You can borrow many of these titles from our library, visit the Little Free Library at Derby St., which is periodically replenished with books that celebrate diversity, or buy the books from their website and support the Hingham Pride Project in the process. You can also find resources on how to start having these important conversations with your kids.
Happy Pride!
Please click the photo of each book to be directed to our Amazon affiliate link-we are working to switch these links to local and black/queer owned stores.
Early Elementary
Upper Elementary
Middle School
High School
