Keywords:
family, alternative school, school environment, two moms, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, donor, LGBTQ families, daycare, inclusive
family, alternative school, school environment, two moms, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, donor, LGBTQ families, daycare, inclusive
.Transcript
Tara: So tell us a little bit about your family. We always start that way. Tell us about your family.
Ruby: Um well, I have two moms.
Tara: Okay.
Ruby: And a step-mom, and two older sisters. Who are like, half-sisters, but full sisters. It’s a whole thing. Um, yah, and I’ve had a step-mom since I was six. Yah.
Tara: And where do you live? Do you live in one house, in many houses?
Ruby: I live mainly in two houses.
Tara: Okay, great. And tell us a little bit about school. What school do you go to? What grade are you in?
Ruby: I’m in Grade Eight at Horizon Alternative Senior School.
Tara: And what’s it like at, ah, your school?
Ruby: My… It’s an alternative school, so it’s very, like, alternative. Um, and pretty fun, and like, very relaxed and chill, and everyone’s just very, like, whatever. Yah.
Tara: Great. So have you always lived with two moms?
Ruby: Yah.
Tara: Okay. And when you were going to school, beginning in elementary school, were you one of the few kids who had two mums, or were there lots of kids with two mums or two dads?
Ruby: My grade I think I was the only, and I don’t think there were many others in the entire school.
Tara: Was that, uh, what was that like?
Ruby: I think it was kind of… Like, I definitely noticed it and like noticed doing mother’s day projects twice, and not doing father’s day projects. I was kind of proud of it and didn’t want it. I was like, I don’t have to do this. But, um, I was like, I’d tell people and explain the whole thing when I was like, two. Like, I have a donor. Do you want to know what that means? Like, a three-year-old, so that’s just kind of been, like, normal.
Tara: Right.
Wendy: Do you remember, um, it being more--there being more parents, same-sex parents, and different kinds of families at campus co-op?
Ruby: I don’t remember that. I was tiny.
Wendy: Because I remember there being a story, you telling a story about being in the kids, this little group of toddlers in the daycare where everyone was comparing what kind of families they had, and you know, you would say, I have two moms in my family, and the next kid would say, well, I have one mom, and one would say, I have two dads, and another would say, I have two dads and a mom, and it was sort of like, what do you got, what do you got, like hockey cards. Everybody had a different situation, and they were all just completely equal in their descriptions, and it was almost as diverse as I think I’ve ever seen.
Ruby: Yah.
Tara: So that was daycare.
Wendy: Yah. But that was up to kindergarten.
Ruby: Yah. Humewood wasn’t like that at all.
Wendy: No.
Tara: Tell us about Humewood.
Ruby: Yah, so that was the elementary school.
Tara: That was elementary school, right.
Ruby: So that was the one where I’m pretty sure I was the only one, and when it--when it started like K to eight. But I didn’t really notice anyone else that had a family similar.
Wendy: Who’s that boy who in Mary-Ellen’s drama class?
Ruby: Oh yah. So Camillo did. There was one boy who did. But even then he came a lot later and everyone else had already gotten used to me. When he explained his thing it was like, oh, so you’re like Ruby. And even then his was completely different too. I don’t know anybody who has, like, now at my school, we only have seventy students.
Tara: Right.
Ruby: But there’s still--there’s three families, three families that, um--in my class there’s only thirty kids--three families that have some kind of two dads, two moms, something, um, and even then, like, everyone’s is really different. But I know a lot people who are adopted or I know, like, a lot of people whose parents, like, like, were with a guy, and then--their mom was with a guy, and then was with a girl after.
Tara: Right.
Ruby: But I’m the only person that I know who had a known donor, and then, like, a sibling thing, and then three moms.
Tara: So tell us a little bit about your family. We always start that way. Tell us about your family.
Ruby: Um well, I have two moms.
Tara: Okay.
Ruby: And a step-mom, and two older sisters. Who are like, half-sisters, but full sisters. It’s a whole thing. Um, yah, and I’ve had a step-mom since I was six. Yah.
Tara: And where do you live? Do you live in one house, in many houses?
Ruby: I live mainly in two houses.
Tara: Okay, great. And tell us a little bit about school. What school do you go to? What grade are you in?
Ruby: I’m in Grade Eight at Horizon Alternative Senior School.
Tara: And what’s it like at, ah, your school?
Ruby: My… It’s an alternative school, so it’s very, like, alternative. Um, and pretty fun, and like, very relaxed and chill, and everyone’s just very, like, whatever. Yah.
Tara: Great. So have you always lived with two moms?
Ruby: Yah.
Tara: Okay. And when you were going to school, beginning in elementary school, were you one of the few kids who had two mums, or were there lots of kids with two mums or two dads?
Ruby: My grade I think I was the only, and I don’t think there were many others in the entire school.
Tara: Was that, uh, what was that like?
Ruby: I think it was kind of… Like, I definitely noticed it and like noticed doing mother’s day projects twice, and not doing father’s day projects. I was kind of proud of it and didn’t want it. I was like, I don’t have to do this. But, um, I was like, I’d tell people and explain the whole thing when I was like, two. Like, I have a donor. Do you want to know what that means? Like, a three-year-old, so that’s just kind of been, like, normal.
Tara: Right.
Wendy: Do you remember, um, it being more--there being more parents, same-sex parents, and different kinds of families at campus co-op?
Ruby: I don’t remember that. I was tiny.
Wendy: Because I remember there being a story, you telling a story about being in the kids, this little group of toddlers in the daycare where everyone was comparing what kind of families they had, and you know, you would say, I have two moms in my family, and the next kid would say, well, I have one mom, and one would say, I have two dads, and another would say, I have two dads and a mom, and it was sort of like, what do you got, what do you got, like hockey cards. Everybody had a different situation, and they were all just completely equal in their descriptions, and it was almost as diverse as I think I’ve ever seen.
Ruby: Yah.
Tara: So that was daycare.
Wendy: Yah. But that was up to kindergarten.
Ruby: Yah. Humewood wasn’t like that at all.
Wendy: No.
Tara: Tell us about Humewood.
Ruby: Yah, so that was the elementary school.
Tara: That was elementary school, right.
Ruby: So that was the one where I’m pretty sure I was the only one, and when it--when it started like K to eight. But I didn’t really notice anyone else that had a family similar.
Wendy: Who’s that boy who in Mary-Ellen’s drama class?
Ruby: Oh yah. So Camillo did. There was one boy who did. But even then he came a lot later and everyone else had already gotten used to me. When he explained his thing it was like, oh, so you’re like Ruby. And even then his was completely different too. I don’t know anybody who has, like, now at my school, we only have seventy students.
Tara: Right.
Ruby: But there’s still--there’s three families, three families that, um--in my class there’s only thirty kids--three families that have some kind of two dads, two moms, something, um, and even then, like, everyone’s is really different. But I know a lot people who are adopted or I know, like, a lot of people whose parents, like, like, were with a guy, and then--their mom was with a guy, and then was with a girl after.
Tara: Right.
Ruby: But I’m the only person that I know who had a known donor, and then, like, a sibling thing, and then three moms.