I just appreciate all your responses so much.
Susan, you are correct in that I am not struggling with this but just want to do whatever to make life easier for my daughter. Any unease I have is related to how the world may treat her. My ask on this site is to try to get a sense of what kids may go through so I can try and provide some anticipatory guidance. Yeah, that’s a good idea about music. We listen to Clairo, girl in red, Arlo Parks but I don’t think we’ve ever talked about them by gay/bi. Also seems to be some lack in representation on screen that’s kid appropriate. Though Sofi on this thread, mentioned Andi Mack and we’ll check that out.
It’s interesting that there’s so little talked about LGBTQIA in formal education. I have heard that this is discussed in middle school but not at all in elementary school. I recently did an online reading with 2 others for her elementary school (outside of school hours) on gender identity. We read Julian is a Mermaid, I am Jazz and It Feels Good to be Yourself. So we created a little tiny bit of space for talk about gender identity, but as far as I know, sexuality has never been addressed. I guess I kind of get it. I’m just hoping that she doesn’t go back to school in the Fall after a year and a half at home with this new sense of self and confidence, just to feel like an “other” when she returns to school.
Heather, thanks for curating such a great list! We have read several of these books together and will definitely check your recs out! I have a couple others that I’ll write out nicely and send to you.