Yet for every Cinderella, there is also a Xena. Or maybe had they.As delicate damsels in ruffled dresses, princesses can be an unrealistic and harmful stereotype, particularly for little girls. I couldn’t understand why colouring book publishers had not thought of this. So I wondered, what else could I do to help kids like Zoe and her friends?Įven though LGBTQ+ families are starting to show up more in picture books, another category of kids’ books lags much farther behind: colouring books.
My daughter tells everyone about ‘our book.’ It validates her family. When I said that the main character had two dads, she shouted out: ‘She’s just like me!’ The children responded with a collective ahh sound as if something clicked in their minds. Thus, at a library, for example, it would be placed in the general picture books section, instead of being designated to a separate ‘family diversity’ shelf. In 2018, BQB Publishing released my picture book debut What Does a Princess Really Look Like, where the main character’s parents just happen to be two dads. If we’re in a book, we must be legit (Picture: Mark Loewen) My daughter tells everyone about ‘our book’ – it validates her family. They learn best by engaging their senses and interacting with new concepts. They may have never actually seen a family with two dads.Ĭhildren don’t just learn from having things explained to them. So why do these children struggle to understand our family? My theory is that we are the first two-dad family they’ve actually met. They happily send their kids to our home for playdates.
I know for a fact that some of the parents have told their children about diverse families. Her classmates didn’t come from conservative families that disapprove of ours. ‘Papa,’ Zoe told me at the time, ‘I’m tired of kids who don’t know anything about anything.’ Near tears, she hugged me. Another time, a group of children asked me if she was lying since it was impossible for a child to have two dads. One time, for example, a child explained to her that we couldn’t be her ‘real parents’.
And, as you may know, even well-intentioned children’s honest observations can be harsh. They tried to connect this new information about families with their existing knowledge. Somewhere around first grade when Zoe was seven years old, kids started responding differently. Most times her clarification sufficed for other children. This continued through the preschool years. Kids may have never actually seen a family with two dads (Picture: Mark Loewen)
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