I just wrote a permission note to Avocado's teachers I would never have imagined writing twelve years ago: permission for the kid to spend a day without talking. (Anyone who knows my beloved younger daughter knows that silence is not her default mode.) Tomorrow kids at schools around the Bay Area (maybe around the country...I am in this instance cluefree) are going silent, or wearing pink, or doing other things in support of their gay and lesbian peers who may have a hard time speaking out for themselves.
I don't know if the kid will be able to be silent all day; I'll be fascinated to hear the report. But I honor her attempt. She's a good kid.
ETA: I am informed this morning that Sarcasm Girl is--of course--doing the same thing at her school. Neither of my daughters is shy, or laconic. Right now Avocado is being silent, while SG says she'll start with the silence once she gets to school.
Both of the girls feel mildly fierce about this. Aside from the fact that they know and love a number of people who are gay or lesbian, the idea of anyone being unable to talk about something as basic as who they love or are attracted to offends them deeply. Avocado in particular goes politely ballistic when she hears a kid at school dissing something by saying "that's so gay!" To take a stand in 6th grade is not necessarily an easy thing.
