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Post by gemstone on May 23, 2011 11:54:44 GMT -5
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Post by JC on May 23, 2011 12:13:05 GMT -5
WTF.
Ok under their logic, we shouldn't teach our kids anything! They can figure it out for themselves right?
Freakin weird. I can understand teaching tolerance but they are not even going to give the poor kid any guidance? I feel sorry for that child.
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Post by gemstone on May 23, 2011 12:17:40 GMT -5
I find the whole thing really weird - like, I think the kids will be more confused and fraked up trying NOT to conform!!!
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Post by pretty on May 23, 2011 12:32:26 GMT -5
crazy, a sign of the times, I get what they intend but fear it will have repercussions on the child. people and their politically correct intentions.... scary stuff, for the kids. but like all parents everywhere these folks are acting out their own issues on their kids. lame.
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Post by JC on May 23, 2011 12:50:52 GMT -5
Yeah I kinda understood their intentions too but I don't think they realize that this is going to backfire because the poor kid is going to be confused. They are totally taking this political connectedness WAY too far.
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Post by gemstone on May 23, 2011 12:58:42 GMT -5
I think the 'acting out their own issues' is so true. I am up for letting your kids be their own people, but children need guidance. The kids are choosing pretty pink stuff, but I wonder how much influence the parents are having, perhaps without even realising it, over the kids choosing this over more traditional male clothes/toys.
I just found it interesting but really quite messed up that a parent would allow a child that much freedom.
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Post by JC on May 23, 2011 14:59:22 GMT -5
It is very interesting. It kind of makes you think how much of who you are was shaped by the influences around you. It's that whole nature vs. nurture thing.
Fun topic! ;D
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Post by hannahjex on May 24, 2011 3:03:06 GMT -5
I find this so disturbing, I almost cried. Those poor kids. What if Storm decides they just want to be 'normal'? I can't help but think that after all the years of bullying and being laughed at and teased about their 'crazy' family that are sure to come...the only thing that kid is gonna want to be when 'it' grows up is 'normal'. But they won't have that option any more. I don't buy the whole 'they are choosing who they want to be' thing at all; not with that upbringing. If their parents are always 'encouraging' them to try different things, then of course they're going to choose the 'different' things and try to be the person they think their parents want them to be. That's what kids do. They look to their parents for guidance. I can't believe they are doing this to their own children. Seriously? GUARANTEEING them years of bullying and criticism just so that they can use them as an experiment to live out their utopian fantasy?! I'm so mad. I don't care how good their intentions are. This is the real world. Hell, Communism was a GREAT idea until they tried to put it into practice!
I saw a documentary once about a boy that was raised as a girl because something happened to his penis when he was a baby. Based on the whole 'gender is a social-construct' theory, he had gender reassignment as a baby and was raised as a girl, but when he got to his teens he decided he wanted to be a boy and had gender reassignment surgery again...I can't remember the whole story but he was really screwed up and ended up committing suicide. I'm pretty sure I'm not telling the story properly; let me do some googling...
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Post by hannahjex on May 24, 2011 3:31:30 GMT -5
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Post by gemstone on May 24, 2011 6:23:09 GMT -5
Exactly Hannah, I feel like those kids can't win. Either they are bullied as you say or I reckon their parents will be disappointed if they want to be 'normal'.
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Post by 1234 on May 24, 2011 7:48:51 GMT -5
This is pretty weird, but just to play devil's advocate about the problem of how our economy sells gender ideas to little kids and the dangers it does: www.slate.com/id/2282444/ . I heard an interview with the author of this on a local radio talk show, when I was recovering from my lap. It was pretty compelling, and sad. One of those things that makes me get on my feminist rant and not want to shut up. But these people are pretty creepy. I hope the boys come out ok.
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Post by 1234 on May 24, 2011 7:49:49 GMT -5
This is pretty weird, but just to play devil's advocate about the problem of how our economy sells gender ideas to little kids and the dangers it does: www.slate.com/id/2282444/ . I heard an interview with the author of this on a local radio talk show, when I was recovering from my lap. It was pretty compelling, and sad. One of those things that makes me get on my feminist rant and not want to shut up. But these people are pretty creepy. I hope the boys come out ok. It's telling that the older one doesn't want to go to school.
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Post by painttheseconds on May 24, 2011 14:08:08 GMT -5
I can see it from both sides really, but I thinking having a genderless child is just going to cause the child more confusion in the long run. I can understand letting their boys wear pink and paint their nails if that's what they really wanted to do, but my whole thing is do they really want to or is this something that is being forced by their parents in order to promote their own agenda. It's a tough call really.
I've worked with kids through out my life and I think it's very important for them to express themselves in a safe environment, but I would think them not knowing their own gender would be incredibly confusing. If the boys want to wear pink and play with girly things fine, but give them the freedom to play with traditional boy things as well. Basically I think it's healthy for kids to express themselves in whatever way works for them within reason and if they later change their mind and identify as another gender then fine. I would hope the parents would be supportive either way. I don't know if I'm making any sense.
One memory that does stick out in my mind is when I was volunteering at a preschool back home during highschool and one of the boys at the preschool wanted to wear a princess dress while the other girls were playing dress up. The other parents and teachers who were helping freaked out and were telling him that he could absolutely not put on the princess dress. He got really upset because I don't think he understood why he couldn't wear the dress. I don't find things like that a huge deal. Little kids are just playing. In my opinion that little boy wasn't thinking I'm going to challenge gender roles by putting on this dress. He was just thinking oh dress up looks fun I want to put on that dress. That whole situation made me really sad. I felt like the parents and teachers were making way to big of a deal out of it.
When I worked with kids in Boulder. The kids played dress up and did all sorts of things outside of what girls and boys traditionally played with and they were all fine. Once the activity was over they went back to doing what they liked and they were never made fun of by the other kids. Granted this was Boulder and things are much different there then they are in a small town where I grew up.
I've never been a fan of extreme's and that's what this article sounds like to me. Maybe in a perfect world it would all work out fine, but not the way things are right now. Children need guidance and direction not to mention boundaries. That's how we all grow up to hopefully become healthy, productive, and happy adults in my opinion.
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Post by JC on May 24, 2011 17:35:17 GMT -5
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that it's "extreme." I like the idea of giving your kids the freedom to express themselves but this is truly too extreme. I played with boy things as a small girl and nobody told me it was wrong. I think I turned out alright! LOL
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Post by pretty on May 24, 2011 17:49:16 GMT -5
me too, I played with whatever I wanted to play with, but nobody was insisting that I play with boys toys. I played with them sometimes, and sometimes I chopped Barbie's hair off, and sometimes I dressed up like a princess...
Sometimes when you avoid one thing, in favor of another, you are actually pushing an agenda that's hard for kids to miss. Now these kids are getting the message " being a boy OR a girl is wrong" and have no 'base camp' to start their own gender research from.
I get really sick of people trying so hard. Can't they relax and enjoy thier kids? Gender identity struggles affect EVERYONE ALIVE TODAY in one way or another... is that really the MOST important thing in the kids' lives? tell you what - in THIS family, it sure will be. Dorks.
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