http://kafila.org/2009/07/15/my-son-jane-moira-mcdonald/ media | politics | dissent Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:48:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://kafila.org/2009/07/15/my-son-jane-moira-mcdonald/#comment-6619 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:18:07 +0000 http://kafila.org/?p=3069#comment-6619 A friend just sent this article to me. My son when he was about two or so, was so charmed by his elder sister’s frocks and her bangles and bindis that he insisted on wearing the frocks. We even have photographs of him in a charming dress and wearing bindi. Fixing flowers to his hair was a problem because it was kept short in ‘boy’ style. It brought memories of my cousin on a festival day.He was the only boy among three girls. Us girls were dressed in long silk skirts, with our hair plaited and decorated with flowers. It was hugely fun spinning round in the long skirt and then sitting down so that the skirt settled into a shimmering ball around us. Of course, the little boy wanted to join the fun – so he got to wear one of our long skirts and had flowers pinned on his head and soon was whirling away! I don’t think, pink, skirts or flowers are girl things or boy things – children like them, and perhaps many adults too regardless of gender. Why do clothes and colours have to be gendered? Oh and if you are wondering, my cousin is married to a woman and my son has one steady woman friend and several man friends – at least as far as I know. He prefers to wear his hair longer than mine – but that could be because he is too lazy to visit the barber periodically! he is 23 now.

]]> http://kafila.org/2009/07/15/my-son-jane-moira-mcdonald/#comment-6617 Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:23:13 +0000 http://kafila.org/?p=3069#comment-6617 Get a hold of Kim Pearson over at TYFA. http://www.imatyfa.org/ The thing is, I don’t think you’re raising a trans-kid, you’re raising a kid. He just is what he is, and does what he wants to. I think we should protect our kids from harm, but not from growth. However this turns out, you and he will grow and learn along the way. What your doing is difficult because of society, but you’re doing something amazing. You’re raising a child free of shame.

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