A mother perfectly explained why teachers shouldn’t use the term 'mom and dad'

Often times when teachers are referring parents, they’re say something like: “have your mom and dad check your homework.”

A mother, who identifies as gay, shared on Twitter how this can be harmful and heteronormative, and explained why teachers should be generally wary when they refer to caregivers.

In a viral Twitter thread from earlier this month, Sirry Alang wrote that the number of times her child's educator has said "your mom and dad" in the classroom is "infuriating".

Many kids may live with one just parent, grandparents, gay parents, or have any other family structures and might feel excluded if this language is constantly repeated.

“But a BRAVE kid just said…'But I only told my grandma at lunch time because my sister and I live with our grandma.,’” she tweeted, also mentioning that her own child said that they “don’t have a dad & it’s ok because my mom said there are different kinds of families.”

Many people agreed with Alang, a professor at Lehigh University, who said the term “grown-ups” or something similar would be better, all-encompassing term.

A prominent author Glennon Doyle shared Alang's Twitter thread on both Instagram and Twitter:

"That little language difference signals to little ones that all families are real and important and should be honored," Doyle wrote in her Instagram post caption. "That little difference can make a child feel celebrated instead of othered."

For example, in the US, 35 per cent of children don't live with two married parents, according to a study by the Institute for Family Studies.

Alang, however, seemed to think there was a light at the end of the tunnel: “[the] teacher apologized and said she’ll start saying ‘parent or the adult helping you at home’,” she wrote.

“I have faith in this generation.”