Should gender-neutral parenting be encouraged?
Greetings everyone,
Before I
start, what is Gender-neutral parenting? GNP (Gender-neutrality parenting) is the
idea that parents should not specify a gender onto their child, rather give
their child full control over their gender. This means exposing them to genders
far beyond male and female.
Years before
2017, choosing genders was not a big issue and children were more than happy to
receive their birth gender, but now it has become a big issue. Parents have
become more open minded and are letting their kids decide what they are.
On the other
hand, should parents force their sons to play with more masculine toys or
daughters with more feminine toys. Do you think it is a right thing for them to
tell their children what colours or clothes are appropriate for their gender?
Lastly,
Research has stated that 90% gender confused girls accept their birth gender
when they hit puberty, so do you think that the parents in the video did the
right thing to allow their daughter to transition into a boy. Do you think the
boy was serious, as his speech showed no emotions at all? Do you think this
would cause bullying when he goes to school? Often kids get bullied because of
their gender transitioning. Do you think the parents should’ve waited because
most kids don’t really no what they are getting into?
I hope you
guys liked my blog, and let me know what you guys think of Gender-neutral
parenting.
Post originally created and used in 2017 by Muhammad Abdullah
I feel even though young children are not as experienced with the outside world and how society works they still should be able to choose there gender and as they grow older get more into depth who they are. Parents should let children choose what type of toys they want to play with so they have an equal amount of masculine toys and feminine toys so the kids have options to choose from. I feel that parents should be able to choose clothing for their children but when they grow up let them have more of a choice. I don't feel that it was the right thing but it wasn't the wrong thing to let their child transition into a boy because the child would have to make the choice either way. I feel it would cause bullying becuase thats how kids are they repel anything that isn't the norm to them so when they grow up then they usually start accepting what is different. I feel that it was the parents call to deal with the situation and they chose to do it at a young age for the child to deal with his identity.
ReplyDeleteI believe that if a baby grows up to be a girl, the parents should make her realize that she is a girl and choose clothing according to her gender, but as the girl grows up and becomes more mature, if she feels as if she is a boy, than the parents to accept that and let her decide what type of things she wants or play or wear.
DeleteHey Muhammad, firstly I think the parents should have waited. What I believe is that the child should make his/her own decisions when they are understanding of situation. The situation with getting bullied in school should not be considered when taking into consideration their choice of gender rather that issue should be solved. Generally being transgender right now in school is frowned upon or made fun of. In an educational environment this should not be the case because this leads to a whole society of misjudgments, misunderstandings and stereotypes! Attempting to solve this bullying issue would be a huge leap in society and further educational success. The fact that the child him/herself should be the one to determine what they transpire with because it may dictate their future that they will be leading, having that decision be made by their parents is wrong! Furthermore, there are caveats when deciding which gender they actually will be, their educational background, age and comprehension of what they doing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Abdul, and I think the bullying issue goes back to parenting and media. Children often mimic what they hear from the internet or from their own parents in some cases. The older generations/parents of the future will have to drastically change their outlooks for this to stop.
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ReplyDeleteHey Yanish, I agree with in not allowing a child to change their gender so early and instead to wait for a certain age. I also agree on the parents being able to chose how they raise their children as it is their kids. Parents need to treat their kids accordingly if they don't then the kids will be independent from such an early age without enough knowledge. If parents don't get to make decisions for you when you can't then what are parents for?
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DeleteIagree with you Yanish. I feel like the parents should help them and guide them to the right path, but at the same time they should not force anything on them. They should embrace the birth gender and allow him to change when he is old enough. But at a very young age, I think that they should have the higher authority and not allow their child to make a big decision
DeleteHey Muhammad that was a really well written blog, and at some level I do agree with you. But I was having kind of second thoughts when you said “Since young children have no real-world views and cannot critically think, do you think that they should get to decide their own gender” I see where you’re coming from but if the child doesn’t have any real-world view and can’t think clearly then how can you expect them to stay with their own gender if they share the same amount of knowledge about their own gender as they do of the other genders. Furthermore I think giving a boy “masculine” toys and the girl “pink” toys is just socially created stereotypes that should’nt exist, and they don’t affect a child physiological as much as parents fear. Now talking about clothes, clothes are much something you wear to keep yourself covered... and there shouldn’t be any gender assigned to something that is there to serve the same exact purpose no matter what. Moving on to the boy in that video, he would unfortunately face hardships in life because our of our societal norms, which is a really bad thing but as you’re putting it, it seems like that parents forced him to change genders but in actual reality it was his choice. wWhich i know sounds absurd as he is only a 6-year-old boy, but we can’t truly know what’s right for him if we don’t even know him.
ReplyDeleteHey Maqsood, I never said anything about children sticking to their gender. I was saying that children should just be themselves and worry about anything else. My point was that if a child asks his parents to change his/her gender, they should not allow it because the child is very young and probably has no idea what he's saying. So parents should just ignore them, and when they get older, they can make their decisions. As I also said that 90% gender confused children accept their gender birth after reaching puberty. And one more thing, I never said that the parents forced him to change genders. Clearly the parents gave the child the responsibility of choosing genders.
Delete*not worry about anything else
DeleteHey, Muhammad i personally disagree with the decision of the parents in the video. At the age of five is when most children start school, the child in the video was is only six. The child having very little school experience would lead me to conclude that she was not old enough to make a decision. In my opinion the decision was personally the parents as they also wrote down everything the child said. When it comes to gender neutral parenting i agree with it but is changing the gender of child at six right. Is it still gender neutral parenting if the parents chose to change the child's gender? This brings up another question, do parents reserve the right to change a childs gender or do you think the child should reach a certain age like 12 for example?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response Safwan, I believe that Parents should make decision of their child till they are 13 years old. At that age, children have more experience with life and have more school experience, and kids learn a lot at school. Since the kid was only six, also think that the letter was written by their parents. His emotions did not support his speech.
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ReplyDeleteHi Abdullah, nice article. I think it was not very smart for the parents to change their daughters gender in such a young age. Like the doctor in the video said, girls can go through fazes where they become a tom boy, and later in life move out of the fazes. The doctor also pointed out how people go through fazes of different interest. The girl in the video could have been going through fazes of different interest. The girl was so young that she should could have just being going through one of these fazes. This is why they should have waited a few more years, not up til puberty, but maybe 3 years, when she is 9 years old. If nothing changed let her transition into a boy, and if something did change and it was just a phaze, then let her remain a girl. I think it was just to early, like I cant even remember the things I was doing at 6 years old. It's just to young to judge a persons character, the parents were wrong to do it so early and should have waited a few more years.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree that the child was too young to be judged. The parents were too hasty with their decisions. I just hope that the phase that the girl went through was not temporary because if he grows up and realizes that he feel more of a girl nature, then it will become a problem for him.
DeleteGreat blog Abdullah! I honestly agree with most of the comments posted on this subject. I personally think that the parents in the video made a wrong decision by changing their daughters gender. I think they should have waited until the child reached the age of maturity and was responsible enough to make their own life changing decisions.
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