I don't so much think the kid is going to be confused, but I think this whole "experiment" or process or whatever you want to call it is going to be moot once the kid grows up. I think the social pressures and norms the kid is going to experience (assuming he isn't kept completely sheltered from the outside world, popular culture and friends his own age) are going to encourage him/her to fall a lot more in line with what is commonly expected from his sex. As the child grows up and the influence of parents becomes less and less compared to friends, media, etc., I expect there will be more and more pressure to adopt a more traditional outward persona, and I imagine the child will accede to some degree.

 

That's exactly my very first thought reading the article.

 

More than likely. Heck, that's probably the best case scenario for the child in many ways.

 

+1

This is just stupid. Just say what it is. They're just trying to get attention.

 

You don't know that. It could be they're just very passionate about how modern gender roles affect child development. And willing to take a somewhat un-pragmatic approach with their own offspring.

 

I don't see anything wrong with what they're doing here. It mightn't be a bad idea if more people did this. One situation that immediately springs to mind is those cases where children are born with ambiguous genitals(they stressed that this child was not). Intersex individuals shouldn't be forced to choose their gender until/unless they're ready.

As far as I can see the only harm in this case is that they're allowing the child to develop one way, when society expects something else. Any problems this will cause the child will be down to the intolerance of others. The bigger problem here is that society at large needs to learn to have more sensitivity with these issues.

interesting assessment. I think a lot of 'teenage rebellion' is probably just about trying to fit in with peergroup norms. Sometimes you have to reject a lot of the junk your parents taught you in order to do that.

who knows. But I doubt it.

 

I guess I'm old fashioned. My daughter wears the pink "Daddy's little girl" shirt and if I'm blessed enough with a boy someday he'll most likely where the blue shirt with a basketball on it.

Oh well.

 

Yeah, no.
There's a reason people don't normally raise their kids like this. It's because it's a terrible idea. They are intentionally setting their kids up for ridicule and humiliation, then they'll turn around and blame society for not accepting them. I bet their kids will love having that personal freedom as they grow up to be angry, bitter hippies. There's nothing worse than people who think that their anger and hatred of societal norms makes them happy and enlightened.

 

Just because something is a societal norm, doesn't mean we should raise our children to go along with it. In some societies it's the norm for girls to marry at 12. In other societies gender roles dictate that women wear a veil. Some would say that to violate these norms is to invite trouble.

I don't agree.

I could be wrong, but that's what I thought. I'm sure I've seen it used in the strictly biological sense.

 

...I did read the article Ma'am  

I just voiced my opinion

 

There's a difference between not embracing every societal norm and intentionally raising your children to be outcasts. The 5 year old wants people to know that he's a boy. He doesn't like being called a girl. Obviously he's getting messed up by this "gender neutral" thing already. The solution is pretty easy. Give him a haircut and stop buying him dresses. I guarantee you the parents are doing this on purpose, encouraging him to like girly things because it feeds their hippie social superiority complex thing, but the fact is he's a little boy who is afraid to go to school and upset when everyone thinks he's a girl. If he wants to be a boy, then encourage him to be a boy. Get him a pair of jeans and a Tonka truck. He'll be way happier for it, guaranteed. He's a child, not an experiment.

 

Oh god I hate to use it but THIS.

Gender programming is EVERYWHERE. Even when they're little babies their clothing is so masculine and feminine. I find it more disgusting when kids have interests in something another gender does and the parents freak out. Kids are kids. It doesn't determine anything about them, and even if you do make assumptions you should accept and love them the way they are.

Kind of related to the gender thing:

YouTube - ‪More Princess Boy‬‏

 

My kids can wear whatever they decide to, but until they're old enough to pick out their own stuff, my wife will be dressing Gemma like this:



And I have no problem with that.

 

She don't look too happy. Put her in something with dinosaurs on it. Bonus points if you find something girly with dinosaurs on it.

 

One thing you should know based in my experience. The mom has the final say in things when dressing kids from birth till the start of grade school.

 

That's right. And the mom in this thread wants a girl so very bad she won't even admit their third is a boy. It would offend her hippie friends SO much if she admitted to them her dressup doll fantasies she's had since she was a child herself.

Hemingway's mother did the same thing to him and look how that turned out.

 

Hemmingway had a hard life, but he made great contributions to literature and he had good times as well. He was having a blast at the end.

 

slow clap

 

So i guess we.....

(Sunglasses on)

.....Don't know if storms weather a boy, or a girl...

YEAHHHHHH-