Keeping the lines of communication open with gay children

Lynette Vertoch explains how parents can keep the lines of communication open with gay children. She uses her own life as an example and offers parents advice based on her own experiences of communicating with her gay son.
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Keeping the lines of communication open with gay children

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To keep the sex conversations going home and to have my some feel comfortable is to never shut him down when he asked. No matter how uncomfortable or sometimes they will ask something and I want to say, why did you do that or what? To did not do that, to not to be judgmental, to not cross examine but to just always be open and encouraging and we're very very open with both of our children at home to keep them... We never want them to be ashamed or to feel bad, we want them to have knowledge to keep them self safe and healthy and they're not going to feel comfortable asking questions of us if they feel they're going to get in trouble or we're going to judge them. Just always be open, always if we don't have the information to get the information from them, to follow up with that, but to always provide them with the information and to stay open and to keep the communication open.

Lynette Vertoch explains how parents can keep the lines of communication open with gay children. She uses her own life as an example and offers parents advice based on her own experiences of communicating with her gay son.

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Lynette Vertoch

Mom & Entrepreneur

Lynette Vertoch is an entrepreneur with a small company she runs with her husband in Seattle, called Cameos & Crowns. In her words, the company designs "these very cool dish towels, pillows, cosmetic bags and aprons."  She has two children, Harris, 16 and Izzy, 13. Harris is gay and Izzy is not. She is divorced from their dad and married to a wonderful man who has been their stepdad for seven years now.  She and her ex-husband and current husband all parent the kids together (even though they live in different states) and are all close as a family - they even vacation together.

More Parenting Videos from Lynette Vertoch >
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Transcription: 
To keep the sex conversations going home and to have my some feel comfortable is to never shut him down when he asked. No matter how uncomfortable or sometimes they will ask something and I want to say, why did you do that or what? To did not do that, to not to be judgmental, to not cross examine but to just always be open and encouraging and we're very very open with both of our children at home to keep them... We never want them to be ashamed or to feel bad, we want them to have knowledge to keep them self safe and healthy and they're not going to feel comfortable asking questions of us if they feel they're going to get in trouble or we're going to judge them. Just always be open, always if we don't have the information to get the information from them, to follow up with that, but to always provide them with the information and to stay open and to keep the communication open.