I recently came across a photo on my 14 year old daughter's iPod of a letter from a girl friend of hers that expressed her feelings for my daughter. Words like "I do melt in your eyes" and "I can't stop thinking about you" were in the letter and I was quite shocked.
I thought the time they were spending together were like most girls…just friends and someone they would hang out with and talk. But when I saw this, it obviously is a little concerning for me…on so many levels.
From a religious perspective, we taught our kids to be tolerant and that being gay shouldn't be looked at as a bad thing and that we should all respect each other. But something inside me is saying that this type of behavior at this age can be confusing and I'm not sure if I should encourage these two spending so much time with each other. I know I'm going to have to bring it up at some point and my reaction needs to be one of support, but I think I need to ensure she is aware of the complexity of such emotions and that making a commitment at this age is just too soon. It's not that I'm against that lifestyle, I'm just not sure that at this stage that I need to be encouraging it either.
Also, what of the other girl's parents? Should I bring it up to them? I know as soon as I say something to my daughter, she'll text the other girl and if it gets out, I'd hate for her parents to be blindsided or even worse, she may do something drastic. Not sure what I would say, but again, trying to minimize the interaction with each other might help them to step back and reflect of these emotions and not jump into anything without fully understanding the affect on them. Being a teenager is already stressful enough without adding the emotion weight this can carry.
WouldI would appreciate any feedback.
