Ticky Tacky Little Boxes

Trying to force kids into boxes is wrong, it is much better to let kids explore their gender than to force them into gender roles.

Transgender children: 'I first realised Jackie was different when she was 18 months old'
daynurseries.co.uk
29-Oct-15
Article By: Angeline Albert, News Editor

With more and more children seeking medical treatment for gender identity issues on the NHS, can a child be too young to know who they really are and what can nurseries do to help?

Figures from Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, the only UK clinic to provide medical treatment to transgender children, reveals the number of referrals have risen steadily over the past five years and are up five-fold from 139 in 2010/11 to 697 in 2014/15.

In 2014/15, seven five-year-olds were referred to the clinic and five four-year-olds.
[…]
“We have to support people to manage uncertainty and their understandable distress” she says. Even if society may put girls and boys in different boxes from birth: pink for a girl, blue for a boy, nurseries are expected to be more forward-thinking. “Nurseries should acknowledge that a binary culture does not fit everyone. In early years, if there was less reinforcement of the binary, there would be less of an issue if a child felt they didn’t fit.

"Boys and girls outfits, lining up according to gender, books depicting genders in a stereotypical way.

But she says it is also “unhelpful to create a third box and say male, female, trans. Trans is an umbrella term covering a range of experiences of gender, including for example, non-binary. “We need to break down assumptions that certain ways of dressing and behaving go along with set genders.”

Taking gender out of the equation in early years means children have more space to express themselves.

This could even be as simple as splitting children into two groups according to a specific animal or cartoon character. Dr Carmichael says it is important that “nursery staff don’t jump to conclusions”. “We don’t want to assume that children are trans or have a different sexuality. Children are developing and their understanding of themselves and what feels right for them can change over time.”

How refreshing to hear this… let the children sort it out for themselves. If children grow up in a non-threatening environment they will have less preconceived notions of gender binaries.

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Since coming home from Fantasia Fair I found a clogged kitchen sink that I need to call the plumber for (I tried a snake but that didn't work so now I have to call in a professional), I closed up the New Hampshire cottage with my brother, and I have a cold. Not a god week.