Themes:
high school, open-minded, viewpoints, unkind, pride, parenting network, multi-parent family, support
high school, open-minded, viewpoints, unkind, pride, parenting network, multi-parent family, support
Transcript
Tara: Some of the kids that we’ve interviewed said that going to high school was a little bit more challenging than going to elementary school. The kind of community that you described, um, that your kids have, they had similar kinds of communities, but things changed a bit as the school got bigger, and, uh, folks from different kinds of neighbourhoods came together. Uh, going back to that question again, and thinking about your own high school experiences, what do you want for your kids in high school?
Mohan: I would say, um, what I – kind of what I said earlier. Because of my – the diversity of my own background when I was in school, yah, it was tough. So I think that being treated differently, as I was, and I would imagine that Kiran and Anya might be treated differently, I – I’m a little less concerned about that because I just think it makes them stronger, open-minded, more alive people, more alert to different people, viewpoints, tensions that can be at play, um, but what I would not want is for them to be treated unkindly. So that, for me that’s what I would not want for them. Um, they, um, they have – it’s amazing what a five-year-old – like how much of the world that you can see they already grasp. And there – they have a real sense of pride. We’ll go to the park with the kids, and our son, in particular, will go up to another child who might be playing there, and he’s done this often – Anya’s done this as well – but he’ll say, um, I’ve got a papa and a daddy. And so there’s a real pride in it, and so I hope that they carry that sense of pride with them as they, um, as they get older, go through school.
Kevin: We also have a network of friends who are also two dads raising kids. And in different – in different – and two moms too. Yah, in different, I think all of the examples I can think of with two moms and two dads are slightly different: three parent families, two parent families, um. But I think building that network, as well, is helpful, so that our kids as they grow up through elementary school and even into high school, um, can look around and say, okay so there are other people in this – in these circumstances.
Tara: Some of the kids that we’ve interviewed said that going to high school was a little bit more challenging than going to elementary school. The kind of community that you described, um, that your kids have, they had similar kinds of communities, but things changed a bit as the school got bigger, and, uh, folks from different kinds of neighbourhoods came together. Uh, going back to that question again, and thinking about your own high school experiences, what do you want for your kids in high school?
Mohan: I would say, um, what I – kind of what I said earlier. Because of my – the diversity of my own background when I was in school, yah, it was tough. So I think that being treated differently, as I was, and I would imagine that Kiran and Anya might be treated differently, I – I’m a little less concerned about that because I just think it makes them stronger, open-minded, more alive people, more alert to different people, viewpoints, tensions that can be at play, um, but what I would not want is for them to be treated unkindly. So that, for me that’s what I would not want for them. Um, they, um, they have – it’s amazing what a five-year-old – like how much of the world that you can see they already grasp. And there – they have a real sense of pride. We’ll go to the park with the kids, and our son, in particular, will go up to another child who might be playing there, and he’s done this often – Anya’s done this as well – but he’ll say, um, I’ve got a papa and a daddy. And so there’s a real pride in it, and so I hope that they carry that sense of pride with them as they, um, as they get older, go through school.
Kevin: We also have a network of friends who are also two dads raising kids. And in different – in different – and two moms too. Yah, in different, I think all of the examples I can think of with two moms and two dads are slightly different: three parent families, two parent families, um. But I think building that network, as well, is helpful, so that our kids as they grow up through elementary school and even into high school, um, can look around and say, okay so there are other people in this – in these circumstances.