Welcome back to another episode of Gaining Mom-entum! Meghan is fired up this week about a PAC meeting that she Zoomed into at her child’s school. After debriefing, they get into this week’s topic — queer parenthood. This week’s awesome guests are Astri & Ainsley, long-time friends of Meghan’s, who were extremely generous in sharing their time and their experiences as new parents. If you hear some background noise, it’s just the sound of multitasking parents and their infant daughter. After sharing preferred pronouns, Ainsley & Astri share the story of how they welcomed their child into the world and dealing with invasive, inappropriate questions from family members. (Heads up: Please keep in mind that we had this conversation in a safe environment, with it being made very clear that Astri & Ainsley were in the driver’s seat in determining what they felt comfortable sharing with all of us. They were incredibly open and giving in their responses, but they did not owe us any of the stories that they shared.) This conversation covers a lot of ground including pandemic parenting, the harm caused by assigning gender to parenting roles, the need for education and open conversations around gender diversity, how we conceptualize resources for new parents, queer relationships, and the language we use to talk about it all. The conversation wraps up with a reminder that queer kids need to know they are loved, and talking to all kids about gender diversity and diverse families is one way to we can all work together to make sure that happens.

As always, thanks for listening! Please share Gaining Mom-entum and comment/review wherever you listen to your pods.

Instagram: @gainingmom_entum

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Email: [email protected]

Music: Evan Dysart (Spotify and Bandcamp)

Artwork: Catherine Cachia (IG: @catherinecachia, catherinecachia.com)

Resources:

International Family Visibility Day Toolkit

Building Bridges: Queer Families in Early Childhood Education

What Makes a Baby?

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell

Baby’s First Words by Stella Blackstone & Sunny Scribens

Cookies and Cake & the Families We Make by Jennifer L. Egan

The Family Book by Todd Parr

Parenting is Political

The Bare Naked Book by Kathy Stinson

From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Thom