Never Too Young: Why Kids Deserve Queer Friendly Libraries

1 year ago 125

Ashlie (she/her) is an educator, librarian, and writer. She is committed to diversifying the speechmaking lives of her students and supporting abdominous acceptance arsenic it intersects with different women’s issues. She's besides perpetually striving to larn much astir however she tin usage her galore privileges to enactment marginalized groups. Interests see learning however to roller skate with her section roller derby team, buying much books than she'll ever read, hiking with her hubby and sons, and making lists to debar existent work. You tin find her connected Instagram (@ashlieelizabeth), Twitter (@mygirlsimple) oregon astatine her website, www.ashlieswicker.com.

View All posts by Ashlie Swicker

I worked with young children agelong earlier my archetypal twelvemonth teaching successful 2007. I person 3 degrees that suffice maine to amended kids. Interacting with young radical has been my top accomplishment for arsenic agelong arsenic I’ve been a person. My biggest takeaway implicit the last, oh, 30 years? Kids volition ne'er neglect to astonishment me. It’s been proven to maine implicit and implicit that kids cognize more, consciousness more, and merit much than adults ever springiness them recognition for.

My latest acquisition successful this has been astir the palpable relief felt by my simple students erstwhile I worked to marque my schoolhouse room much queer-friendly. This process included nary fanfare. I had already been adding representation books that challenged sex norms and mediate people titles with queer characters and storylines for arsenic agelong arsenic I had been processing the collection. But arsenic I was moving to adhd radical and carnal diverseness into my room posters and signage, I knew I wanted to subdivision retired to marque definite everyone felt welcome.

The archetypal noticeable displacement was erstwhile I decorated my doorway with a “This Classroom is for Everyone” sticker from the Etsy creator MegEmikoArt. The sticker is decorated with pridefulness flags and my students buzzed arsenic they came into Media. Soon after, I bought the “Libraries are for everyone” garment successful the aforesaid plan by the aforesaid artist. A 5th grader who didn’t usually halt to chat pointed to 1 of the flags connected my shirt, grinned, and said “That one’s me.” I was wonderfully, pleasantly floored.

I thought I was adding much queer flags, utilizing gender-neutral terms, and featuring books with queer characters to assistance them hole for the existent world. I thought my students should beryllium exposed to these things successful lawsuit they met queer radical oregon to marque them much comfy with queer household structures. This was a condescending mode for maine to deliberation astir my students. Thank deity the kids are smarter than me.

What really happened was that my students thanked me. There was gratitude, excitement, and relief. My students already knew however to place much circumstantial pridefulness flags than I did. They already knew that sex and sexuality are spectrums and each idiosyncratic knows what feels close to them. I had students with whom I had nary erstwhile narration sharing their pronouns. Our STEM gathering materials were utilized to physique and statement antithetic pridefulness flags. Requests were made for the LGBTQ publication section; the books had ever been there. The kids conscionable needed affirmation that it was harmless to inquire for them. My students did not request exposure. They needed a harmless space.

Canada Promotions Newsletter

Thank you for signing up! Keep an oculus connected your inbox.

By signing up you hold to our terms of use

I was good alert that students successful precocious schoolhouse and adjacent mediate schoolhouse needed queer-friendly libraries. Despite considering myself an state and believing that I was doing everything I could astatine my people level, I was showing a deficiency of respect for my students by reasoning I needed to introduce them to queer-friendly ideas. If I tin recognize that a 10-year-old cisgender kid tin recognize heterosexual romance (featured successful astir each rubric ever), wherefore does it astonishment maine that queer kids are looking for the aforesaid kinds of representation? Most importantly, however did I fto myself hide the powerfulness and bureau that young radical person erstwhile they are fixed the abstraction to beryllium comfy with who they are?

In a clime wherever adults are perpetually clashing implicit what kids should beryllium taught, it’s important to retrieve that children are vastly much alert and successful interaction with themselves than we springiness them recognition for. I’m grateful to my astonishing students for reminding maine that beyond teaching them, my archetypal occupation is to springiness them a harmless abstraction to research each the amazingness they already possess.

Read Entire Article