Gender fears

So in the last week there has been a lot ofmedia attention  given to two stories about ‘transgender children’. One child has been removed from their mothers care and another child’s father has had an article printed in the Daily Mail about his anger at his ex wife allegedly forcing their child to dress in female clothes. When you read these stories please remember they are one point of view. They do not tell you the full story. 

In essence what this has done is led me to fear even more for my family and our child. Robin came to us with questions and asked to be able to dress as a girl. We sought advice and were told to allow this and let it play out. That was 8 months ago and Robin still dresses full time in female clothes and tells us he is a girl not a boy. Who knows at this age if this is permanent but what I do know is that because of two stories given so much media attention every parent who’s child  feels they want to dress in a different gender clothing is more fearful of what others are thinking. 

We fight for our children’s right to feel happy and comfortable but we are portrayed as people who are forcing a child to behave and dress in a way they are not choosing. The media is feeding people’s fears of anything different from the perceived norm. I wish I could understand what people are so afraid of. 

The charity Mermaids supports parents to help their children through this journey. Today’s article accuses Mermaids of bullying and interfering, from all I have seen all they have done is SUPPORT. Without Mermaids many parents would be alone, scared and confused about how to support their children. I am disappointed and saddened and in all honesty I’m scared. I’m scared that people will never understand why we are supporting Robin’s wishes and I’m scared that all it takes is one judge or newspaper to take a view and try destroy a family or a charity. 

So all this rambling has a point I promise, please please remember there are multiple sides to these stories, please don’t assume the one you are reading has all the facts. I’m not pretending I have all the facts but I know my child and I have met children like Robin and they deserve better than the media portrayal that their gender issues are getting.