News Media Strikes Again

Well, the liberal news media, this time on NBC Nightly News has done it again. They are championing two families who have chosen to allow their young (5 year old) children to live as "transgender". If you want to see the story, go here:  http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/transgender-kids/jacobs-journey-life-transgender-5-year-old-n345131

It makes me very sad for a number of reasons. I have a hard time expressing why, because these are deeply held convictions that I have never had to articulate because I have never felt the need to. But I will try.

For one, this declaration confirms to me how pervasive our culture's child-centered parenting has become. This child is being not only allowed, but encouraged to exert and follow their desires, while the parents are relegating responsible parenting to the whim of the child, and following the advice of media-influenced psychologists instead of using time-tested logical parenting skills. 

But in this child-centered, media driven society, where the opinion of psychologists overrides common sense, this is what happens.

I am saddened by the the fact that these parents are letting the child choose- at 5 years old what gender they want to be, and labeling them. This is not like letting the kid be a princess, or a fireman, or doctor for the day or week or month. This is something that is much more fragile. It is their identity. It is who they are, and who they will become. And they look to us to help them know. In my opinion, these parents are misguided.  In the case of these children, it seems these parents have traded in long-term thinking for immediate gratification. It makes me wonder what the parents are thinking- and if they are thinking ahead to what the future will look like for their children.  

Maybe they agonized over this decision. But The problem lies in the fact that they are letting this child be the center of his own universe. Making decisions that a child is incapable of making, and calling it good parenting. That is what child-centered parenting does. Lets the child make the decisions. When did we become a society that bends to the will of the child instead of teaching them right from wrong?

Being the mother of a transgender adult child, I may have a little bias here. And I think my child would agree that at 5 years old, a child is not capable of making those kinds of decisions. Their minds are not developed enough to think ahead even to the next meal, let alone to how this will affect their lives. That is left up to the older, and supposed to be wiser adults in their lives: their parents. 

But the thing that both angers and saddens me the most is the sweet child is growing up thinking God made them wrong, and that they have the right and responsibility to fix God's mistake. 

And make no mistake about this: these children are being used. They are not being brave or champions of some cause. They are pawns in someone else's agenda.

Some will agree with me while others will think I am wrong and uncaring. But I think everyone will agree that this situation is something we will have to deal with more and more as society swings further and further away from traditional values and closer and closer to an "anything goes" society with no moral absolutes.

And it is hard for those of us with closely held beliefs to watch our faith be torn to shreads while we are deemed unloving and unkind. I am just glad my kids are grown, making those decisions for themselves and not asking me to raise them one way or the other. Because I just don't think I would have chosen this way. And I probably would have suffered the wrath of the media for it. 

These are just my thoughts. I would love to read yours if you would be so kind and leave them in the comments.

By the way, if you read all the way to here, thank you! And the reason I haven't posted in a while is that I have been very sick. I think I must have contracted mono or some other nasty virus. I have felt awful since we returned from our New Years trip to Canada in the middle of January. But I am feeling so much better, and seeing some good medical professionals, so you are stuck with me for a little while longer! I am back at the keyboard and clicking away. And I have some fun things planned for the next few posts. So stay tuned!