Navigating parenthood is never easy.
While screaming babies, difficult toddlers and misbehaving children can make us want to pull our hair out, other problems arise when they reach teenage hood.
Jack Remmington, one-half of The X Factor's duo Jack & Joel, posted a moving story to Twitter - one that has many pieces of advice for parents struggling to help with their teenager's burgeoning sexuality.
And his reply should be required reading for parents.
Jack explained that he was in Las Vegas playing the slots with his friend Marco Alessi when a man in his 40s came over to him.
He lit up when talking about his son, and I nearly started crying at how much he clearly loved him. The guy wanted to know how to make his son feel most comfortable about himself whilst not being too overt and glaringly obvious in forcing a conversation about his sexuality
— jack remmington (@jackremmington) January 2, 2019
He asked them if they were gay and when they said yes, he explained that he believed his 13-year-old son might be too and aked them how he should navigate that?
Jack went on to explain what happened in a series of tweets.
He wrote that, ''He lit up when talking about his son, and I nearly started crying at how much he clearly loved him. The guy wanted to know how to make his son feel most comfortable about himself whilst not being too overt and glaringly obvious in forcing a conversation about his sexuality.''
Jack and Marco spoke about personal experiences that helped them to come to terms with their sexuality.
For instance - when I was about 12, my v obviously straight brother and I were watching a soap with my dad and there was a gay kiss on screen. I vividly remember my dad saying if either of us ever thought we were gay that we would still be just as loved by our mum and dad
— jack remmington (@jackremmington) January 2, 2019
He wrote, ''We both gave a couple of anecdotes from personal experience, largely relating to condoning abstract things when you see them like normalising conversations around gay kisses on TV or calling our family conversations that might shame potential queerness.''
They went on to talk about showing his acceptance of the LGBT but not putting any pressure on his son coming out before he was ready.
Jack posted about a particular conversation he had with his own father.
He wrote, ''For instance - when I was about 12, my v obviously straight brother and I were watching a soap with my dad and there was a gay kiss on screen. I vividly remember my dad saying if either of us ever thought we were gay that we would still be just as loved by our mum and dad."
He continued, ''He’s clearly doing all the right things and is making his son feel as comfortable as he can. Take notes people this is how it’s done!! Particularly given that the boy is growing up far out of a metropolitan city this kind of unconditional love and support is invaluable.''
Powerful words and ones that could be helpful to parents struggling to help their teenagers to talk about their sexuality.
