Parenting Advice Column in the Times

Elizabeth 1’s speech at Tilbury for the history rewriting.
"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too".

“PurgatoryofPotholes
Relationship-diverse means people who are polyamorous/have open relationships and so on“

Having just read some of another thread about pedophilia promotion, I now detest all this jargon-like Ad man speech that smooths over any possibility that something might seem amoral or wrong. “ Relationship diverse” might one day include for its advocates so called (by paedophile promoters ‘adult-child’ sex, ‘animal-human’ sex etc.

I am not going to listen to anyone using the phrase, or others, like “relationship-diverse” without asking for a translation of exactly what relationships they mean.

“Musomama1 (about Joan of Arc)
No, she looked and behaved a bit like a man, so she must be non-binary at the least. This is frankly getting a little insulting.”

I agree. And what about that famous speech of Elizabeth 1’s? Would she now be called trans?

Hope that young person in question isn’t going to read History at university if they take up the suggestion to start randomly transing female historical figures

There's a good thread of advice written by the parents' group Bayswater Support, as a kind of alternative or remedy to Tanya Byron's advice:

twitter.com/BayswaterSG/status/1486036013948588037?s=20

I'm staggered that this kind of professional advice is given and encouraged. Staggered. That getting onto the road of lifelong dependence on medication and irreversible surgery on your body is so casually recommended.

I was told a long time ago that children haven't changed, the world has. A wider exploratory into why this child is thinking this way and counselling is surely what a responsible adult would be advising.

Also, Joan of Arc dressed in men's clothing because she was a female knight and this is the clothing you would wear in battle to protect yourself. She's famously known for wearing men's clothing because this was used as a reason for her to be put to death (it was unlawful for women to wear men's clothing). There were also other lesser known warrior women throughout history.

Isn't it far more likely that the pious, bible wielding Joan of Arc had a Christian understanding of the 2 genders/sexes of women and men??

No, she looked and behaved a bit like a man, so she must be non-binary at the least. This is frankly getting a little insulting.

Hmm. Are the comments being hidden from anyone without a subscription?

No need to apologise! The point of conversation on MN is to share information!

I'm not even sure google would help you. It's a very new term. I've only seen it around in the last six months, and this may be the first time I've seen it used in some kind of article without an accompanying definition.

Sorry, @PurgatoryOfPotholes. I had never heard the term before. I should have googled the meaning.

Spot on TheWeeDonkey What's unbelievable is that this is a generally insightful professional who spent time writing that column. Yet despite all her years of training, one mention of trans and she reverts to spouting meaningless activist drivel about "trans children" and completely ignored the key issue of bullying (which was signposted by the writer, so it wasn't hard to spot fgs).

And she's a professional who allegedly understands psychology.

[quote Goatsaregreat]Here you are MissLucyEyelesbarrow The other cringeworthy column where the victim of bullying was completely ignored in favour of the bully :

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0e78b2de-f50f-11e6-a45f-cc1b99ad256c?shareToken=5d7c7fa3161c90d28e446ac817a1da0d[/quote]
When I was a kid I had a friend who started bullying me. I was "different" and I think it makes her feel more accepted when she was horrible to me that if she would try to support me.

I cut her off completely, did my mental health the world of good. No kid need to "support" or appease their bully, that's terrible advice.

Thanks, @Goatsaregreat - the internet never forgets

Here you are MissLucyEyelesbarrow The other cringeworthy column where the victim of bullying was completely ignored in favour of the bully :

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0e78b2de-f50f-11e6-a45f-cc1b99ad256c?shareToken=5d7c7fa3161c90d28e446ac817a1da0d

On a more optimistic note, there was a similar response from TB to a grandmother concerned about a trans-identifying child 2-3 years ago, which attracted no challenge from readers. These days, thanks to the wonderful Janice Turner and colleagues, Times readers are 95% GC. Go Janice! 😀

“Finally, I want to recommend The Queer Mental Health Workbook written by my colleague Dr Brendan Dunlop and soon to be published (which can be pre-ordered from uk.jkp.com)."

What a timely letter to respond to!

There are no comments any longer. Censorship?

The comments are very good - informative with some posters signposting alternative groups for advice.
Sometimes she produces articles like this that fail to answer a question and regurgitate ideological flannel - highlighting her lack of insight and rendering her useless as a support. And other times I've read insightful and really helpful columns. Disappointing that she has such limited awareness of the complexities of this specific issue.

I suspect the letter was made up so that Byron could then respond and promote her friend's book. Sadly, it will potentially cause a wide ripple of damage to many children whose parents read this and take it as good advice. I sincerely hope that anyone who has access to the online article adds pointers to resources such as Bayswater Support etc

I feel very sorry for the parent who wrote to her.

Sounds like it was all written just to promote her colleague's new book ...see final paragraph: "Finally, I want to recommend The Queer Mental Health Workbook written by my colleague Dr Brendan Dunlop and soon to be published (which can be pre-ordered from uk.jkp.com)."

I am studying psychology, and I work with therapists, so I ought to be an ideal candidate for the Byron Winkleman podcast, but there was some reason I couldn't bear it, I think it might have been the fawning from Claudia, plus Tanya's use of terms like "sweetheart" (or something in the same vein) to the clients that I just found patronising and condescending. Shame.

I also object to the word queer especially used by heterosexual people, as it doesn't relate to so many of us and it's (a) offensive; and (b) inaccurate, I am not "queer" I'm really quite ordinary.