"What does Mother's Day have to do with my family?"

Our son, who has two dads and no mom, came home from school this week and said that his fourth-grade class will spend an hour making Mother’s Day cards. He didn’t know what to say to the teacher. How can we help him here?

This is actually a pretty common scenario, since these days a majority of North American families don’t conform to the classic nuclear mold. Some school districts have reacted by modernizing that little ritual (along with the Father’s Day version, of course), either by changing its name (“Parent’s Day”) or simply by telling kids to make a card for any relative.

In your case, I’m not sure it’s your son’s job to speak to the teacher. If he insists on doing it himself, perhaps suggest he say something like “I don’t have a mother but I want to make a card for my dads.” Alternatively, contact the teacher yourselves. Explain that your son is uncomfortable with the assignment and suggest some options for doing things differently (if the teacher doesn’t take the lead on that). In your particular case, that could be a Father’s Day card to you in May and a second card to your partner on Father’s Day itself. Or the teacher could make sure that the assignment suits any family situation.