Progressive Parenting
Written by Mockarena // May 23, 2011 // Hippies Smell // 42 Comments
Sigh.
Thanks to a link from Moonbattery, I read this article and just had to shake my head in amazement that progressivism has come to this.
The sourcelink is about a couple with 3 kids, the youngest of which (pictured above) they patently refuse to identify by a specific gender. Not because the child is a hermaphrodite or anything – physically, this baby is obviously a particular gender. But the parents want to raise a “genderless baby” because, “If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.”
In fact, the only people who know Storm’s gender are his/her two brothers (Jazz, age 5 and Kio, age 2), one family friend and the two midwives who delivered Storm at home in Toronto in a birthing pool.
In an email announcing Storm’s birth, Storm’s parents wrote,“We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place? …).”
These people are a comedy skit. Everything they do is a stereotype, a caricature. But, Storm’s parents insist, “What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It’s obnoxious.”
Yeah – there’s this thing called PARENTING, which involves making decisions and choices for your kids. It’s not obnoxious. It’s PARENTING.
The two gender-identified brothers are, SHOCKINGLY, totally girly. They’re into pink and dresses and long hair and nail polish. They’ve eschewed traditional gender roles in response to their parents’ encouragement. Jazz, the 5-year old, has a notebook filled with his drawings and poems, and goes by the pseudonym “Gender Explorer.” His notebook, decorated with pink lettering and butterflies, says, “Help girls do boy things. Help boys do girl things. Let your kid be whoever they are!” Fabulous. So these parents, so concerned about other people “making decisions” for their children, have decided for THEIR children that the kids will take on their social cause. Do they not see the irony?
Jazz, however, doesn’t LIKE being called a girl. Although old enough, he chose not to go to school because of the reactions of others to his preferred style of dress/behavior. When pressed to explain further, he simply whips out his Gender Explorer journal.
It’ll come as no surprise that the parents lead very non-traditional, progessively liberal lives. The father is a teacher at a school called City View Alternative, and the lessons are “framed by social justice issues around class, race, and gender.” The mother is a stay-at-home mom who volunteers, offering “breastfeeding support.” The couple also “unschools” their children, which unlike homeschooling, means that the kids direct the “studying.” No tests, no grades, no books. Learning happens by exploration and is directed by the children’s questions. The kids get to choose how they spend their days – whether that means they’re baking, exploring nature, or building forts out of pillows. The entire family sleeps together on two big mattresses pushed together.
But back to gender-neutral Storm. His/her mother said in an email, “In fact, in not telling the gender of my precious baby, I am saying to the world, ‘Please can you just let Storm discover for him/herself what s (he) wants to be?!.” Meanwhile, in insisting that her kids reject gender norms or identities, she’s actually creating another gender identity altogether, that of gender-free. The kids are, as Diane Ehrensaft, a psychologist, says, “other than other.” Not choosing a gender identity is, in fact, a choice in and of itself. Diane is the mother of a “girlyboy” and the author of Gender Born, Gender Made - a guide for parents of nonconforming kids – and she believes parents should support “gender-creative” kids. These include transgendered children, as well as gender “smoothies” who believe they are uniquely part girl and part boy.
The fact that a book like that even has to be WRITTEN is INSANITY.
The secret of Storm’s gender will ultimately come out, and it’s already proving to be difficult to keep up the mystery. When the mother is out and about and needs to change Storm’s diaper, she doesn’t try to hide. Instead, she says, “If (people) want to peek, that’s their journey.” And there’s also the problem of personal pronouns, which can get complicated.
But in true progressive form, the column reads, “For the moment, it feels right.”
Of course it does. Whatever feeeeeeels right to you, crazy progressive people.
They get questioned on when this whole charade will end. And the mother replies, “Yeah, when will this end? When will we live in a world where people can make choices to be whoever they are?”
Here’s the thing. Using your own kids as a way to make some sort of statement about how you think the world should be is NOT COOL. The world is how it is, and it’s parents’ responsibility to help guide their kids through REALITY, not some weird, twisted gender-neutral version of life they simply pine for but which doesn’t exist. Their rabid focus on avoiding gender discussions actually makes it more of an issue than if they’d just LIVE LIKE REGULAR PEOPLE.
Hippies. GAWD.
42 Comments on "Progressive Parenting"
So…are they going to refer to Storm as “it?”
Do the all bath together too? This is creepy.
You are right about teaching your child to learn to take care of themselves. These poor kiddos will be eaten alive in the real world
Wow… I’d like to see how these kids are doing 10-15-20 years from now. For the oldest..even seeing five years from now would prove to be interesting
Pretty sure their children should be taken away from them.
1. Are the kids even getting a federally mandated education thats going to help them actually live their lives? 2. These are horrible “parents.” Just using their children as props in their own twisted game.
I’m progressive but this is crazy. I’m all for less rigid gender roles but let’s not pretend that biological gender doesn’t exist. It does and it’s a fact not a psychological construct.
Don’t be alarmed…that burning sensation at the back of your throat is just a bit of vomit coming up!
So….they named their kids after Transformers?
Using your child as an experiment is grounds for child services to come knocking at your door to take him,her,or IT away from you! I would be so afraid to meet these kids 20 years from now!
Can you imagine when they hit puberty??? I hate that those poor kids are not only being deprived of a proper basic education, but adolescence is going to be so much more hellish for them than it already is for everyone else. This is just abusive.
I agree with Charles. I am, frankly an ugly female. To be blunt, ugly women face more discrimination than if they were pretty and black, hispanic, gay or whatever. It’s a fact of life. One that does need to change but not one I see changing anytime soon. I had a problem with this as a younger girl, but I am the most lucky woman in the world to have a fabulous husband who loves me uncondionally for what I am, not what I look like. In addition to being…homely , I am also what used to be called a “Tomboy”. Yes I played with barbies, but I always and still do absolutly LOATHE pink anything. I would rather play with GI Joes and my dream was to go to West Point. (An injury and severe illness kept me from applying the two years I was eligible.) I ended up majoring in Biochemistry at Penn State where females made up about 2% of the class. When delving in politics I prefered foriegn policy to domestic. I have plenty of male friends and almost no female friends.
In other words, I am the poster child for progressives to be “gender neutral” or want to have a sex change.
Even with the possibility of getting rid of the monthlies and the fact I never really wanted children, I NEVER even considered getting a sex change. Because I did recognize I was made this way but it does not make me who I am. What I THINK and what I DO make me who I am, not what’s “between my legs”. Is a woman who has had a hysterectomy consider herself any less of a human being or more of a man? I recognize my problems were sociatal and I wish I could change them but it is not something that will happen overnight. Look at how far male roles in the home have progressed in even the past 20 years. But again your genetalia is only a piece of flesh. Just like having blue eyes as oposed to brown.
So I would like to ask these people: Blue eyes are generally preferanced over brown. Are you going to tell your children there are no colors, you can pick which color you want your eyes to be. And god forbid don’t put anything on the driver’s license!!! Put “color neutral” because they may change thier mind on what color they want them to be. Hell they may decide to do the body sculpting to make themselves look like a cat or lizard, so don’t even call them human, they may decide they want to be an animal. And definetly don’t call them your “children” that’s derogatory and they may decide to disown you later!!!
You make your world your own, but if you have no guidance, IE PARENTING you are not even going to know what you want, let alone mold what parts of the world you CAN change to meet your expectations.
I like the sugestion about asking if the children are getting even the minimum state required education, because my bet is on the fact they are not.
They are piling waaaay too much crap on those kids’ shoulders, and setting them up for a life time of confusion and hurt. What woman in her right mind would want an “unschooled girly boy” as a husband? I usually find your posts at least a little bit funny, this is a tragedy waiting to happen. Slow motion train wreck so their parents can make a point.
If there was a like button, i’d like Drachenfuer’s comment. And Charles, I’m starting to like you more and more every day
I think it’s absolutely ridiculous, these kids won’t know who they are even if they are “given the choice” if they’re sheltered from the world, then they’ll never know what’s out there. Geeze
What a bunch of freakin’ weirdos! I’m sorry, but this is proof positive that narcissists should not have children. I feel really sorry for the kids – they are the true victims here.
I’ve got a feeling that the reason little Jazz does not want to go to school is that he realizes on some level that he is actually a little boy, and is embarrassed that he is dressed in pink/dresses. I’m also willing to bet their looney-toon parents did more than “encourage” him and his brother to dress in pink and dresses. That may have been their only choices, or else the “parents” likely made THEIR choices very damn evident to those poor little kids. When you are that age, most of us want to make our parents happy, and likely they were made very aware of what made theirs happy.
I pity those poor children. They are going to grow up as very confused individuals, and likely will have very little friends who even approach normal, or even spend a great deal of time with anyone from the “real” world.
[img]http://chicksontheright.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Oh NO.JPG[/img]
What will hurt them more in the future….discovering that they are either boy or girl, or the constant torment and bullying they will be subjected to?
Oh, and thanks BB…you owe me a new keyboard!
I always wondered if you can take a normal kid and turn them into a murdering sociopath. And here’s a test example.
Someday, after these kids have completely cooked off and gunned down (let’s not use that, that might start a gun right controversey).
Someday, after these kids have completely cooked off and proceed to murder everyone at the shopping mall with gender neutral pitchforks and machetes, will their parents be proud for the accuracy, precision and completeness of their gender neutral murder spree? I bet they will be.
God, I love crazy!
Proof that some people should not be allowed to breed. These kids are in for a really rough ride through life.
I’m surprised they didn’t paint him/her purple so as not to be encumbered by race identy.
What idiots, they are robbing their children of part of who they are.
Biochem Tiger- Thank you!! you made me laugh out loud!
“What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It’s obnoxious,” says Stocker.
UMMMMMMMMMMMMM!?!?!? & THIS choice ISN’T obnoxious!?!?!? INSANITY
“identy” is supposed to be identity… sorry
I need to start doing one thing at a time…
Liberals are insane.
Good Gawd I’ve heard everything. That poor child. I want to fire up the broom, go get HIM and raise HIM the way a BOY should be raised.
Has anyone else noted how many consecutive columns Mock has written? She’s drowning her sorrows in her keyboard. She’s a true writer and never a quitter. Every disappointment spurs her to keep writing. I’m impressed.
Bill – you’re right- writing is a healing thing for me, but I’m SPENT for today. Daisy’ll have to take over for the rest of the evening.
Wait until the hormones kick in. Then those kids are going to gravitate one way or the other. Ironically enough, I have a series of stories that have a character who was raised genderless. But in Rowan’s case, he/she was born a fully functional hermaphrodite, and the corrective surgery was impossible.
Bill –
Daisy has a new, very demanding job and can’t post during the day. Thus, the Mockopoly these past few weeks.
Yeah. These kids are screwed.
I can tell you what Storm will be….messed up!
“Mockopoly” – that totally made me LOL.
“Mockopoly” made me laugh too. That Daisy is sheer genius! LOL
I like both Chicks postings!
Gender identity is much more than what is between one’s legs. It also comes from one’s brain. While girls and boys will cross paths in some areas for the most they differentiate when it comes to thinking. there have been about a bazillion studies on this!!!
Do some homework.
In the mean time I will pray someone will rescue those poor kids.
Sad..I wonder how the grandparents are reacting to their progressive children’s decisions. Makes me hurt to think about how I would be feeling.
Man the comments from the original article are brutal!!!
The year I teased my boys (4 and 6 at the time) about buying them a pink and purple Barbie bike for Christmas, I was promptly told it would be blown up. That happened to be the same year they requested gun powder… Where oh where have I gone wrong???
I am a terrible person…this made me want to laugh, but oh my…those poor children. Yes, indeed…some people should not be allowed to breed. These kids are going to murder their parents in their sleep.
What a shame on the parents…and an injustice for the children….Children need guidance they are not born to know all…they are not little gods…although they belong to God and He will do the judging…I only know there will be a lot of WOES…I just know that it would be it would be better for these parents to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea than to hurt one of God’s children…(Matthew 18:6)…. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20)… My heart and prayers go out to these people and their children…what happened to these parents that has caused them to do this to their children…This is a form of child abuse and I am sure that child services will not touch it even though it is abuse…
Oh Lord God Almighty…Please heal our land and make the crooked roads straight…help all that do not know you Lord to desire to know you and want to do your will Lord instead of our own will…for you Almighty God have answers for how we should live…but not to many care to even know what is right because they want to do what they think is right…For I know that our ways are not your ways neither our thoughts your thoughts..I pray that all will cry out to you so that you may heal our land and our families and diseases and all wrong things to be made right….you God and you alone know what is right, good and PURE….You put us here on this planet earth and you have a purpose for all and it surely is not for our own purpose and I know that even as you have done for me that you Lord will do for all…even if the house has to fall in on them to get their attention…that all may desire to come to You Lord and desire Your truth and Your understanding and to live Your way….for our way leads to corruption! I pray your will Lord and not my will be done…In the name of you loving Son and my Savior Jesus Christ I ask and thank you for these things AMEN!
There are very few truly black and white things in life, maybe more than a lot of people realize, but very few. And these idiots have muddied one of them, shoving these kids a little farther from stability and reality. Why make your kid’s life harder for them?
Now, imagine being a person who REALLY DOES have gender identity issues (physical or chromosomal). Imagine how hard your life is on a daily basis and then you see this story of these two tools. Holy CRAP!?
I just want to scream at these parents. They are so smug about their “alternative” parenting style and allowing their children to “choose” who they are. So…why did you “choose” to burden them with those silly names, Mom and Dad? Why didn’t you let them choose those, too, instead of making them sound like members of Jem’s cartoon backup band?!? *headdesk*
This is an update I thought you’d find interesting… Here in France, starting next school year, the French national education department will be adding some new information to its science curriculum… gender studies. “Gender ideology” will be studied in science class. (that is, the theory that gender should not be decided at birth, but discovered as one grows, and that until now, gender has been imposed on a child wrongly)
“Que des élèves de Première soient informés sur l’existence de l’idéologie du gender est une chose ; qu’elle leur soit enseignée comme une explication scientifique en est une autre. Derrière cette volonté de présenter la théorie du gender comme une explication scientifique susceptible de structurer les relations homme-femme, il y a évidement la volonté des lobbies homosexuels d’imposer à toute la société leur vision des relations sociales et la reconnaissance publique qui va avec (mariage, adoption, fiscalité, succession, etc.).”
Translated: That students in Première (equivalent 11th grade) are informed about the existance of gender ideology is one thing, but that it’s taught as a scientific explanation is another. Behind this move to present this gender theory as a scientific explanation susceptible to structure man-woman relations, there is obviously the homosexual lobby’s will to impose on the rest of society their vision of social relations and the public recognition that goes along with it (on marriage, adoption, fiscal matters, succession, etc)
This, obviously, is taken from an article written by someone who opposes the new measure, but unfortunately, probably will not be heard in the mainstream. Also, you can be sure that if anyone openly tries to fight this change, they will be labeled as homophobic.
Should be interesting…. I’ll let you know how it goes…
I think these parents are nut jobs. But the unschooling has nothing to do with it. It is a very good option, and it raises very intelligent people. My oldest is an Air traffic controller, and my second child is still college age, but is almost exclusively an A student (except when planning her wedding
, and my third plans to be a pastor.
We’ll see how the rest of my kids turn out in time.
Not forcing your kid to prefer boy toys or girl toys is one thing, but pretending they are NOT a boy or girl is harmful to them. Children NEED to know their identity, and socially there ARE roles. Physically there ARE roles. Psychologically there ARE roles. Get over it! Why make their lives more difficult than it already is to be a kid?
I certainly don’t presume you (or anyone else) to be interested in issues involving gender and sexuality–most people are unable to feel empathy for those they perceive as being different, and you suffer from no gender dysphoria so why should you care? I do think, however, that if these parents are living in a progressive community that is accepting of their decision to challenge the gender binary, that they are doing no harm to their kids. I can understand that this is weird to you but it might not be weird to this family, their friends, their community, or these kids. Aren’t Republicans all about individual liberty? I guess not when it comes to family diversity considering the fact that statistically far right wing conservatives think that loving gay moms and dads are more threatening to children than having loaded guns in the home. Oof. I also think it’s weird that you say this like it’s such a horrible thing: “The father is a teacher at a school called City View Alternative, and the lessons are ‘framed by social justice issues around class, race, and gender.’” It’s a sad world when we chastise people for trying to confront the injustices that are bred by race and gender inequality.