Did anyone watch the Today Show this morning? They ran a segment on a 5 year old boy who likes to wear sparkly pink dresses and do other "girl" things. He started this when he was about 2. His mother said that she was uncomfortable with this at first and tried to distract him with saying "Why don't you play with this truck?" or other "boy" toys. After a while his older brother asked "Why can't you just let him be happy?" (Out of the mouths of babes!!) The mother then realised that this was HER problem and not his, and now supports him. She has even witten a childrens book "My Princess Boy" to help explain how they feel and to try to stop the bullying of Princess Boys. Oh that all mothers felt this way.
http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/03/princess-boy/?icid=main...
Comments
If only...
...the world as a whole was more accepting of crossdressing / gender issues.
The poll on the site "Would you let your son wear girls clothes or dress like a princess?" currently has the results 60% no, 23% yes, 17% unsure (15,574 votes). And predictably, the comments are a mixture of full support and outright criticism (with two different methods of attack: exposure to bullying, and somehow it will 'make' him homosexual). Somewhat worryingly, commenters on both sides seem to be under the misapprehension of a causative effect between crossdressing and homosexuality (either his genes determine he's a homosexual, and that's driving his desire to wear dresses; or the act of wearing dresses will make him a homosexual). There's also lots of criticism of his desire to call himself a boy princess - often resorting to dictionary definitions to prove that princesses can only be female...
An interesting point raised by one commenter but ignored by the rest: if the situation was reversed and they had a daughter who liked to wear trousers instead of dresses and play with cars / construction tools instead of dolls, would anyone cause a fuss and demand she only play with dolls or only wear dresses?
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Absurdity?
What's sillier than a boy wearing a dress? Being upset about a boy wearing a dress!
If this is a phase, he'll outgrow it; if it's not a phase, don't even think that you can stop him. Stopping bullies may be easier & would be of greater benefit to society.
And the little guy/gal is blessed with an insightful brother & also with parents who know when they don't know!
The Rev. Anam Chara+
Anam Chara
Saw on msnbc.com
I saw that on msnbc today and came home to watch it. I'm curious to get the book and read it.... I'm not sure that he is anything potentially other than a normal boy even at his age. I would be curious to see a study on how his life progresses from here though. He seriously seems to think of himself as a boy still, so at some point either his view or societies view will have to change. This might very well be a good first step for the rest of us though.
A wonderful family
with the right priorities, let children be themselves and stop bullying.
Angharad
Angharad
I met a mother and daughter today
I do volunteer work at an LGBT Center and met a mother who allowed her child to transition at 8 years old.The child seemed happy and the mother is working hard to make the world a better place for her and all of us.Luckily for the younger generation there is a growing number of parents who are allowing their kids to be who they are.I was somewhat disappointed by the survey results on your link as only 23% of parents said they would allow their son to wear a dress.
i'm amazed
I must say I'm actually quite impressed that 23% of parents said they would. It's a much higher percentage than I would have predicted, and I suspect it's much higher than, say 30 years ago.
We can only hope for further improvements.
not as think as i smart i am
Children learn to hate
They learn it at home from their parents. Its clear what is taught in some homes based on the comments both for and against.