scribblechic

My son has a tendency for literal definitions. The other day, when asked how he was, he told my friend he was gay. Out loud, in a middle school hallway, he outed himself as happy.  A week later, he used the word gay in a classroom and was reprimanded. I am now struggling to determine how to explain context and innuendo appropriately for my literally speaking son.

My conflict rests between definitions and defining. My son’s original understanding of “happy” is not incorrect, but to others may not feel appropriate for reasons outside my son’s comprehension. A peer explained to my son that gay is when two boys like one another. My son likes lots of friends, some of them boys. Literally, the second definition is missing something too, but my son does not yet know about the birds and the bees and I am not sure either of us is ready for that conversation. So how do I approach the unspoken innuendo without supplementing context outside my son’s knowledge?

To add another layer of complexity, I like that my son doesn’t define people by color, faith, or sexual preference. I am hesitant to begin dividing people into categories to explain a misinterpretation. I am lost in translation, literally.

Tagged: Language, Words