How young is too young?


 

This is about as close to a political post as I'll get; and I'm only doing it in reference to a question that came up at one of the town halls.  A mother asked how this candidate would protect LGBTQ+ rights if he was elected. She was concerned because she has an 8-year-old child who is transgender.  Let that sink in: 8 years old.  What were you doing at 8 years old?  I was probably listening to Rick Springfield and pondering the latest Judy Blume book (yes, I just dated myself).

Now before I go on, let me be clear about something. This post is not about shaming any parent who is struggling with these decisions. I've been a part of an online support group for parents of transgender kids and I have read some heart-wrenching posts of parents who just don't know what to do. They have underage kids (mostly teens) who are clearly unhappy and the parents are trying to decide how to help them. There is NO easy path on this journey and I won't judge any parent for decisions they feel were best for their family.

Now back to that town hall exchange. What really bothered me about it was the nonchalance with which it was discussed. When it comes to children, are we normalizing this? And is that healthy? 







Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 29, 2020 at 9:55 PM

    I seriously doubt that a child of that age, unprompted by outside influences, would have an opinion either about being happy with their biological gender or feeling it did not fit. A girl might want to wear only jeans and never dresses -- why not? A boy might love to wear a tutu, and prefer baby dolls to monster trucks -- why not? To stretch that to an insistence that the child is transgender before puberty has even started seems very oppressive. Can't we just let kids be kids, and stop dragging them into adult issues before their time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CarrieNovember 9, 2020 at 8:00 AM

      Agree. Our children are forced to grow up too fast as it is. Thank you for the comment!

      Delete

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