Communication, Kids and Culture
What could possibly make a parent believe that their girl is actually, in reality, a boy? Taking part in the pre-recorded debate for Bringing Up Britain on Radio 4 last week, on the subject of children and gender, it hit home to … Read More
I am an identical twin so I sat down to watch ‘Secret Life of Twins’ on ITV yesterday hoping that it would do something I’ve never seen before on t.v. by portraying real life twins, rather than the freak show … Read More
I sat down with my daughter on Monday this week to watch her favourite t.v. guilty pleasure Don’t Tell the Bride on BBC3. It’s a programme which gets me spitting with rage at the attitudes sometimes shown by bridegrooms (or their … Read More
It’s hard to write about transgender issues as a parenting blogger because in questioning the prevailing trans ideology I know I will be dismissed as transphobic by many, so it’s a risk. If it was hard for me to write … Read More
My eighteen year old son tells me that at his college, everyone’s talking about gender and in particular whether they might be transgender, gender-queer, gender-fluid and a host of other things which he couldn’t remember. The teen/young adult years are … Read More
Writing my last post about kids treating their mothers with contempt got me thinking about the role of cultural socialisation on how we are as mothers. There’s a lot of discussion these days on the subject of socialising girls. We … Read More
I have been debating for a while about writing a blog about transgender issues for parents. This article, Parenting a Transgender Child, which recently appeared in the Huffington Post, has pushed me into action. It’s about an eight-year-old boy who … Read More
In all my work with parents, the most shocking and upsetting stories I hear are those about teenage sons treating their mothers with contempt, and I am hearing more and more of those stories. And far too often I hear … Read More
I’m really perplexed at the way toys have gone over the twenty odd years I’ve been bringing up children. When my boys were little I remember seeing extreme gendered toys only in those really cheap tacky little catalogues that came … Read More
What’s that? You haven’t had a rant from me for a while and you really want to hear one? OK. I’m afraid it’s Lego again – yes I know I’ve done them before – but this trailer for the new … Read More