We celebrate Family Day in my classroom. We make cards and gifts, be we spend time learning about families in all of their wonderful structures. We focus on Todd Parr’s book: THE FAMILY BOOK, and write our own class book describing our families and drawing pictures of what they look like.

It has brought such a sense of relief to my students who are already so aware of how different their families are - this is a time when ALL students in my class do the same activity regardless of how their family is structured… Some of my older colleagues have expressed some concern over this practice, mostly I think because they don’t want to do anything new if it’s too much work. I take great satisfaction knowing this over-commercialized Hallmark holiday has a few less people blindly following their lead.

As I’m now involved in a new relationship, I’d love to be more prepared in how to recognize my partner’s role.

My partner and I have an adopted daughter and will always teach her to honor her mother. These children do have a mother regardless of whether or not she is a part of their lives. She gave birth to them. She brought them into this world. She holds a special place and always will and this should be celebrated and honored by the family the entire lives of the children. They would not have their current family without her as she played a major part in giving it to them.

I think that your idea about how the school handles the explanation is the right answer with exception. I think the children should be allowed to make a mothers day card just like all of the others and celebrate their mothers. They all have mothers and should always be taught to honor them. The children referred to here could save the cards in their life book and maybe plan to give them to their mother if they ever meet them. If they don’t ever meet them I still think this is a mentally healthier way to handle the issue.

I say let’s leave Mother’s Day and Father’s Day alone and as they were meant to be. To honor mothers and fathers. The children have more than enough love in their hearts to be able to celebrate both of their father’s on the same day. As a matter of fact I think they would rather enjoy the fact that they get to celebrate two father’s on fathers day and not all children do. I don’t think they would have a problem making more than one card! The holidays do not promote the stereotypes people do and if we try to put one of the fathers in the children’s mother role for Mother’s Day we are promoting them to.

thanks for listening,
Bob

On Father’s Day, he makes gifts and cards for the special men in his life, his two Papas (his grandfathers, who are our fathers). I suggest that your kids’ teachers help them make gifts for a special female in their lives - whoever that might be. Who says you have to be a mom to be celebrated on Mother’s Day?

There are many single parents out there and have been for many moons. One, you could just go forward and not feel slighted. If there were no Father’s Day, then maybe I could say one of you isn’t being recognized but the fact is there is a Father’s Day and so why not just wait until that day and have your child celebrate that day.

To do other wsie, having one of you get a mother’s day card and the other the father’s day card only furthers the stupid stereo types that have been on going for far too long. Why would you want to further it?

As a single mom, I don’t get anything on Father’s Day, nor do many of the single of married lesbian moms I know.

Now one could suggest that since I am also a transexual woman I could then have a celebration on both days but why would I?

Mother’s Day for moms and female figures in the child’s life, Father’s Day for dads and the male figures in the child’s life.

Rosalyn

In our family, “Lisa Day” is an annual holiday dreamt up by our kids. It falls on a Sunday, directly between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, and follows a similar tradition of honoring parents as those days.

Here’s what Lisa writes about “Lisa Day,”

“When you’re looking for a really good solution to a situation, ask a child — sometimes they will come up with solutions when you didn’t even realize you needed one. They reason better than we grown people do, it’s much more uncluttered. As lesbian parents you have to make some decisions early on (Hopefully, in time this will not be as much of an issue as it was near 20 years ago when we started on this adventure.). Some couples come up with alternate titles for the second parent, but I didn’t want to make something up. I never wanted a “mom” title. I am not the mother of our children. To the kids I have always been Lisa. So after a few Mother’s and Father’s Day celebrations passed they realized there was no day for me, this seemed to make no sense to them so they simply made one. And so every year since then there is a day just for me.”

Yours,
Dawn