What LGBTQ+ kids need is to be seen and accepted for who they are. Placing rainbow stickers near your front door let’s them know that you want them to feel safe in your home. The difference between wanting someone to feel safe and actually MAKING a safe place is Working on identifying your own unconscious judgments about the world. This takes time and effort and the realization that we never finish learning how to expand our points of view.
Brene Brown is a shame and vulnerability researcher. Her work went viral when she gave a TED Talk, and now she is on Netflix. Here’s the trailer to her show.
What does this have to do with Parenting?
“The opposite of belonging, from the research, is fitting in… Fitting in is assessing an acclimating. Here’s what I should say, be, here’s what I shouldn’t say, here’s what I should avoid talking about, here’s what I should dress, look like. That’s fitting in. Belonging is belonging to yourself first, speaking your truth, telling your story and never betraying yourself for other people. True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are. It requires you to be who you are. And that’s vulnerable.”
– Brene Brown, Researcher, Author, Speaker
When we can awake up to this awareness, we can start to notice when we shut our kids down. Are there ways that you police your child’s expression of who they are? We all want to protect our kids and they can tell when we feel afraid for them.
