Dear Dáithí: I think my son is confused about his sexuality — he's left the GAA and is wearing nail polish

I even need to think when it comes to the pronouns. We are so used to saying 'he' and 'she', but life has moved on, and we need to move with it

Sun, 10 Mar, 2024 - 06:00

Dear Dáithí,

My son is 16, he used to be very sporty and active, up until about a year ago. He started hanging out with new friends, ditched the GAA, started vaping, he's either online with the new friends or hanging out with them in the town. I think they are a bad influence. He started changing his appearance too, he has put on a bit of weight, he only wears black and the other day, I noticed he had painted his fingernails black. We got in a big argument recently about the Eurovision, I said it was a big fuss over nothing for Bambie Thug to make people use they/them pronouns. My son got very angry with me and said I was a dinosaur and  that I have no respect. He says he is doing well at school and helps with the house and garden and I should get off his case. He is, but this really hurt my feelings. We used to be very close. I feel worried he may be confused about his sexuality but I don't know how to talk to him about something like this when he won't even be civil to me over the breakfast table. His father would be worse than me at this sort of thing. What can I do to reach him? 