how do you know?

[amitabha]

Your question reminded me of this email that I received a few years back. There was this girl who wanted to tell something to her mother and wrote her a letter. She made up a story about what supposedly happened to her and every lie she wrote got worse and more shocking. By the end of it she had contracted syphillis from her HIV+ black housemate who had cut off her spleen and broken all her bones in a car accident in an attempt to commit suicide. Then she finished the letter telling her mum that it was all fiction and that she got an F grade in her assessment. She just wanted to put it into a better perspective!

(You could use that trick perhaps and let us know the results)

Jokes aside...

You'll know when you're ready to tell them. At the same time it's a good exercise to come out to people, close and not so close - it will help you come to terms with your sexuality more. It's a liberating experience which will define your identity more clearly.

After I told my parents I remember realising how hard it must feel to, all of a sudden, have to change the image of your child that you've had for twenty years. You thought you knew him, and there you go... I find that my relationship with my parents grew stronger over the years. Give them time, love them despite what they might say. They will not know any better.