Although I adore this guideline, I do want to step in to defend this comment.
I think that many parents are trying to teach kids in this age range to take a wider view of the possibilities of family shapes and gender identities, and a question of this wording does indeed confound that.
Curiously, Vasya (short for Vasiliy) can be a short form of girl's name Vasilisa (though it's rare).
I can't recall any mention of divorce apart from school Literature course when I was in school in the 90s (most of material was inherited from the Soviet times).
Knowing how Soviet editorial policies worked, I'm assured the editors considered mentioning divorces or non-married parents as seeding wrong attitudes and thus inappropriate for kids.
dang|4 years ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
jMyles|4 years ago
I think that many parents are trying to teach kids in this age range to take a wider view of the possibilities of family shapes and gender identities, and a question of this wording does indeed confound that.
jMyles|4 years ago
culebron21|4 years ago
I can't recall any mention of divorce apart from school Literature course when I was in school in the 90s (most of material was inherited from the Soviet times).
Knowing how Soviet editorial policies worked, I'm assured the editors considered mentioning divorces or non-married parents as seeding wrong attitudes and thus inappropriate for kids.