[InOne]

Originally Posted by Jack_

Yeah, this is one case. I only used that article because it was the best one I found. Let's try and refrain from lumping all parents that carry this out into a particular assumption-based category.

This is quite good a piece that dispels some qualms people have with the idea - 5 Myths About Gender Neutral Parenting

It's about liberating the child and enabling them to make their own choices and decide how they wish to live their life from as early an age as possible. By raising them in an environment free from stereotypes, they are not forced into living a particular way, adhering to certain gender norms and behaviours or liking particular things...they are free. I accept that this opens the doors for bullies to take advantage - but that's an argument that is regularly applied to gay adoption - the point is, the movement has to start somewhere, the only way the world will become as liberal as possible is by progressive moments pushing boundaries. Eventually, the more people that hop on the bandwagon, the more it is normalised and as such, the possibility of issues like bullying is completely eradicated.

There are evidently issues that need to be addressed, but I think that it's an interesting idea all the same. It doesn't need to be as radical as the article in the OP, like refusing to tell people the sex of the child. It can simply be dressing the child in non blue and pink clothes, and buying them both Action Man and Barbie dolls. I don't really see an issue with that - it's ridiculous to just prolong this ongoing circle of 'boys must dress in blue and like football' and 'girls must love pink and be compassionate one'. That in itself leads to as many problems as gender neutral parenting does.

The thing is, kids become their own people anyway. It just seems a bit over the top to go that far. They will obviously gravitate towards what other boys/girls do because when they make friends trends will pop up and what not. Society will have the most impact, the parents can only do so much. It's almost like you're creating problems that aren't there.