The Importance of Inclusive Literature – Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen Episode 54

13 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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This content was created by Heather Hester. This content was uploaded by Heather Hester. This is a YouTube episode titled "The Importance of Inclusive Literature – Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen Episode 54" (created 2023-02-13). The excerpt is a short exchange between two speakers (labeled SPEAKER A and SPEAKER B) from a parenting podcast discussing inclusive literature and supporting LGBTQ teens. They encourage parents to keep lines of communication open, acknowledge kids' real experiences (including issues around food and self-image), and note the author's intention to meet children where they are in stories while ultimately giving them hope.

I appreciate that there are parents out there who only want their kids to have positive messages about food.
I believe that everybody has the capacity to shift and the capacity to grow.
Instead of staying locked into my own little world of self-hate and self-loathing, I started reaching out. I just encourage parents just to let your kids know that there's nothing they can't talk to you about. There's nothing that it's going to make you love them any less than you do. I always say I have to write, I have to meet the kids where they are, you know, not where I romanticize them to be or where we all want them to be, but I have to meet them where they are. And if kids are living it, I'm going to write about it. But I will promise you that in all of my books, these kids end up with hope.