Thank Gaia for the Associated Press and its super-practical news you can use. Otherwise, how would you know if your four-year-old is among the .06 percent of the population that is transgender?
Apparently writing from the Bay Area Rainbow Camp in El Cerrito, CA, (it “caters to ‘gender fluid’ children, ages 4 -12”) AP offers befuddled parents some “tips,” for figuring out just how confused their kids are.
“How can a parent know if their child is transgender?” the article chirpily asks. “What separates a young boy who might be transgender from one with a vivid imagination who likes to dress up in his sister’s dresses? What do you do if your daughter tells you she’s a boy?” Besides going back and re-examining your entire approach to parenthood …
As liberals are wont to do in the absence of common sense, AP called on “experts” like “Diane Ehrensaft, a developmental and clinical psychologist, director of mental health at the University of California, San Francisco’s Child and Adolescent Gender Center and author of ‘The Gender Creative Child.’” Yes. “gender creative.” Apparently these days the smart set sees human sexuality as something to be pasted together at the arts and crafts table. “Look. Mom, I made myself a penis out of egg cartons, macaroni and glitter!”
As you might expect their takes are of the let-Billy-be-a-sea-urchin-if-he-identifies-that-way type modern non-judgmental parents expect.
My Son Likes to Wear Dresses. Is This a Phase of Something More?
“My answer is, we don’t know,” Ehrensaft replies (Expert!). “What we know is, you have a son who likes princess dresses. I would say get him the dresses. Have your child feel free to choose. Maybe they’ll stop wearing dresses. Maybe they’ll grow up to be gay.”
Whew, What a relief! Let Them choose whatever Them wants to be and you’re off the hook for that icky parenting stuff. Oh, and if you doubt that little Them should be into Playtex before they’re out of Playmobil, Ehrensaft says, “We expect a 2-year-old to know ‘I am boy. I am girl.’ So why can’t that also apply to transgender children?” Well, lack of evidence, for one thing.
Another expert, “Johanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director of The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles,” suggests taking little Them away for the weekend and letting Them “use a different pronoun or wear a dress or other clothing of their choice.” It’s like one of those rock ‘roll fantasy camps without all the disappointed middle-aged guys. Unless little Them identifies as a middle-aged guy ... how does Them feel about a toy Corvette?
“What did you do this weekend, Tommy?”
“My dad took me fishing for trout!”
“What about you, Them?”
“My mom took me fishing for a sexuality!”
A final thought in the article quotes Ehrensaft again:
A transgender child ‘also wants to get into his sister’s closet, but he’s not going to go for the princess dress — he’s going to go for her school uniform,’ she says. ‘He’s going to put on her everyday clothes because he wants to be a regular girl, not a pretend princess.’
Yeah, you certainly don’t want your son pretending to be a “pretend princess.” That would be silly.
