how do i explain what gay is to my 8 year old son.?

Question

My son heard his friends talking about a gay guy at school and i dont know how to respond and explain to him what it is.

Answer 1

i would give him the simplest answer possible.
i would simply say
"well, you know how mommy is a girl and daddy is a boy?? well, we love each other and we live together and we have you to raise and we share our lives together.
now, if someone is gay, then that means instead of them being a boy and girl in love, it's a man and man and woman and woman."

pretty simple explanation.

Answer 2

He don't need much info at this age you should keep it as simple as possible.

Gay is when an adult man likes men the same way most men like their wives.

As to telling your son that gays are happy like one person suggested, I wouldn't because when I was a kid I heard some people calling someone a negative word, and I asked a teenager that I trusted what it meant, her response was that it meant a bundle of sticks. I knew that the answer did not make sense in context, and that she knew she wasn't telling me the truth.
So I asked my mother and she backed up the lie.

Now I was more confused then ever and I had lost confidence in two people I used to trust.

Answer 3

Tell him the truth, its better to know than to be clue-less explain that gay is when two guys like eachother like a "boy friend girl friend" Or show him some Oprah episodes on homosexuality, thats how my 8 year old sister got it.

Answer 4

First write down what you'd like to say to your son. Tell him that years ago many people used the word gay meaning happy but now it means that it is when a man dates another man or a woman dates another woman. I don't know how you feel about the subject, but tell him how you feel on his level, then ask him if he has any questions about it and try to tell him what he needs to know.You're his mother and it would be best to come from you than hearing it from others. God Bless and good luck.

Answer 5

i do no longer think of which you'll be stimulated to be gay because of the fact that's no longer possibly common to be gay. If something, there's a stigma and negativity with being gay. additionally, there's no longer something gay approximately musicals or Justin Bieber (he's gross yet he's directly). i think of possibly he basically does not totally understand the be conscious. in keeping with possibility you may desire to describe it to him (no longer that gay people have gay intercourse and dive into the subject rely of gay intercourse or something) that being gay potential you have emotions for somebody of an analogous gender and you prefer to hug and kiss them each and each of the time and carry palms and so on (undemanding stuff). Ask him what makes him think of he's gay or why he feels that way. this way you are able to delve into whether or no longer that's impacts from someplace or his understanding of the be conscious and so on. additionally, no offense yet why could you enable your 8 twelve months previous son watch Glee? that's no longer an acceptable tutor for little ones.

Answer 6

I work in the mental health profession and in my experience the best approach is simple and honest. There is no need to get into semantics, just the general. We must be careful as parents and guardians not to teach hatred or bigotry to our children. Make sure he understands that respect for everyone is the most important and that there are many different expressions of love and family in the world.

Answer 7

A gay person is some one who has relationships with someone of the same gender. Children are pretty accepting of that and keep on being children. I worked at child care center where there were many same sex couples. Children accepted the fact their friends had two moms or two dads.

Answer 8

He is 8 and already doesn't know what gay is...I am impressed! Kids today know much more than we did at their age...he isn't a baby so I wouldn't lie to him...simply tell him it's when men like men and girls like girls...you don't have to go into specifics with it as I am sure his imagination will fill in the rest.

Answer 9

Just explain to him that when someone's gay, that they're attracted to people that are of the same sex. That some people are like me and daddy, where it's a man and a woman and some people, like that man, fell in love with another man. Let him know that he shouldn't place judgement, ridicule, or treat the guy differently just because he's gay, that he's just like mommy and daddy, he just likes men instead of women.

I know it's confusing when they are that young. My two kids at that age used to come home all of the time from school with stuff they heard from other kids saying stuff about that made my heart drop into my stomach. But in this day and age you have to be open and honest with your children. Explaining it to them and helping them make sense of stuff is the only way to go.

Answer 10

Simple. Tell him some men love other men, and some women love other women.

And ignore the ignorance of people who call it filth. Ugh, so many stupid people in the world

Answer 11

Just tell him! It is not inappropriate! Just say, "It is when a boy dates boys instead of girls" or "It's when a girl dates girls instead of boys". Like I said, there is nothing more inappropriate about being gay than there is about being straight. You shouldn't have any problems talking to him about this.