Slippery slope! Slippery slope!

So, I'm reading an article today about Adam Lambert, runner up of American Idol this season (and in my humble opinion, the best talent the show has seen since Kelly Clarkson) and it's about him coming out in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. Okay, now, anyone who spent 5 minutes watching him on the show didn't need a magazine article to share that tidbit of info about his personal life. But, that's not where I'm going with this.

Knowing Kathryn was lurking, I scrolled down so the title: "Report: Lambert talks about sex, drugs, 'Idol'" was hidden along with all but one measly innocent paragraph at the bottom. I was attempting to be a responsible parent and shield her from such mature subjects when she says, "Adam Lambert I'm Gay. What is gay, mom? What does that mean?" All this as I glance to the right sidebar and there's a video link with "Adam Lambert: I'm Gay" right under it (damn schools teaching children to read! Gah!) So much for being a responsible parent (like I was really fooling anyone anyway, right?!) So she's hounding me and I tried to give her a very brief overview and keep it simple. "Some people prefer to be with the same gender" type thing and she understood that and I told her some people are critical of that lifestyle and can be judgemental. She asked me what I thought about it so I told her I think it's fine and people have a right to be happy and she agreed with that position. This is all fine and well until she says, "So, you're gay with Aunt Alex, right?" Hum. I didn't see that one coming. I told her no and she asked, "Why not?" I said, "Because I'm married to a man and Aunt Alex is married to a man." And as I tried to figure out where to go from there, I realized I was in way too deep because it's difficult to explain the concept of sexual preferences with an 8 year old who knows nothing about SEX! Helloooo, anyone home?! "What have I done?!", I wondered loudly to myself. She asked me if it had something to do with sex, to which I quickly re-directed and grilled her about how she learned that word...school?...bus? She couldn't remember, but didn't seem to have any idea beyond the actual word. I told her it was a topic for when she gets older and, fortunately she moved on, but not before giving her friend the juicy details as soon as she walked in the door, "Adam Lambert is gay and there are pictures of him kissing a boy (which she didn't see, by the way, thank goodness for that bit of parenting prowess) and he thought Kris Allen was cute..." Oh, did I forget to mention that she read the whole article as soon as I turned my back? Yes, I am planning to write a letter to the Principal first thing tomorrow. In all seriousness, it's so hard to know how to handle these situations. I want to be open and honest with our children about their bodies and sex, but not yet! Geesh, she's just a baby! I ended up shouting Nate's favorite words in my head, "slippery slope!" Let's hope for flatter ground until she's 12...or 40...

For anyone interested, Adam sang A Change is Gonna Come on the final performance show and it's phenomenal. Check it out!

Another of our favorites and one you know you listen to a lot when all three of your children sing it when it's on is his version of Mad World. LOVE IT! (It's on the music player to the right.) Ring of Fire is also a lot of fun. I didn't plan for this post to be a promo for Adam Lambert, but there you go! :)