Dumbledore's Gay. Now what?

ABC News.com posed the question, "Dumbledore's Gay: Does Anyone Care?" I suppose the follow up question for parents would be "Dumbledore's Gay: Now what?"

Here's what I'm doing. I am saving this article to read and discuss with my older son. I point out to my son examples of gender stereotypes. We also talk about religious stereotypes, ethnic stereotypes and even economic ones. With the outing of Dumbledore, I realized we've not yet addressed stereotypes of homosexuality and it occurs to me, we should.

And so we shall.

Whenever I share my own world view, my son shares his with me too. Sometimes he's not sure about what he thinks, and we talk about that too. I've also admitted to him when I've changed my mind. My highschool biology teacher was fond of telling students, in his heavy southern drawl, "You can change your mind if you have one." So I let my son know, as we grow older or collect different life experiences, our world view may change and/or adjust. Totally expected. Part o'life. Do I let him know my hopes for him? Sure. Do I let him know our expectations? You bet.

The key is to keep the conversation open, honest, age appropriate and infuse humor whenever possible. And when any one's had enough talk on a topic? Keep things open ended by offering "We can talk about it more later" and be agreeable that either person can bring it up again in the future.

I can't tell you how many times I've had parents tell me they dreaded having to talk about -sex, drugs, rock and roll- you name it, with their kid, only to realize once the conversation actually got started, it was far easier than they ever imagined.

But before you begin a conversation, do consider "Is this a conversation we need to have now? Later? Never? Soon?" and "Is this a one shot convo, or will I need to revisit this more as my offspring get older?" Often parents get worked up about "missing" a teachable moment. For most of us, we've got years of parenting ahead of us, and many opportunities to talk with our kids! Talking about our values, ideas and principles isn't always easy, but it may help you to relax a bit about it when you consider these conversations as ongoing and not just one time events during the course of your parenthood.

When you think about that way, you'll be able to answer any "Now what?" with confidence because you'll have a better idea about the next step you want to take.