Children wearing tails?

[ShepherdMoons]

Dd's friend at drama club has recently started wearing a tail.She sometimes wears ears.It looks quite cute but I also find it a bit odd (they are 11).Dd hasn't asked to wear a tail (yet) but wondering if this might be her next question.I appreciate there's a bit of a trend for this at the moment and seems relatively harmless but I do find it odd.AIBU?

If she has school dinners be sure to offer her the choice between Whiskers and Sheba served in a plastic bowl without cutlery, as well as a litter tray to crap in.

What evidence do you have for this?

It’s hardly new, been around for at least 20 years.

Well done 👏

I get your concerns. I do. But it's a massive leap to look at a kid wearing cat ears at drama club (which is all we actually know from OP!) to 'this child has a developing sexual fetish which could put them in danger and is a safeguarding risk'.

It's the crossover between 'pretend' and 'kink' that's the concern for me. The algorithm of a child interested in this sort of thing is definitely going to throw up some 'interesting' results for them online. It's potentially introducing them to a 'community' children have no business being involved in. I've seen 'furry' accounts on twitter, they're most definitely not suitable for teens!

I don't think anyone is saying the child themselves is acting out a fetish...more that they're (unintentionally) acting out the fetishes of adults.

I wouldn't want my child wearing what is practically a flashing neon 'vulnerable' sign out in the woods alone!

Obviously it's weird, but I'm sure a lot of the things you worse at 11 were weird, too. Let her do it. She'll cringe when she looks back at photos in 20 years time (maybe even in 2 years haha) and that's the fun of growing up.

Whats the difference

You think teenage goths weren’t fetishised by adults? I was a teenage goth and I can tell you you are so very very wrong.

One has no idea the other exists and is normal for little children I don’t include teens in that’s.

The other are fodder for the fetish scene or using it to purposefully find such to earn a following.

Even twitch streaming you will find teens anywhere from 13 up (as that’s technically the minimum age to stream) doing the whole cat ears, tiny pink clothes often to get the viewers in of a select group as it pays.

I've never heard this, nor can I find any source for it.

In the whole the anime community is a friendly and kind space, free from the bullying found elsewhere. A lot of ASD folk find it enjoyable.

To baselessly suggest it has some connection to grooming is really quite offensive.

That said there are many anthropomorphic animal characters in anime and catgirls are especially popular.

There are a small group of furries in DD's year group as well. It is an all girls school and they identify as cats and dragons apparently and fake having multiple personality disorders and arthiritis?? It is all very strange. Correlates with people being trans generally. In her twin sister's school though, there is nothing like that, thank goodness! And then DS' school is an all boys and if anyone tried to act like that..

Where have all the bullies gone? 🤔

In my school you got tortured mercilessly if you only had 2 stripes on your trainers - I doubt you'd have made it out alive dressed as a cat!!

Yes in my DS' school, they would one hundred percent be bullied if anyone tried that! And same for one of my daughter's schools (she goes to a mixed) - it might be slightly toned down but wouldn't be tolerated. But in my other daughter's school, everyone seems to just ignore it! I wouldn't say everyone's completely supportive and apparently they make fun of them behind their backs but really the "furries" are just left to get on with it...

People obsessed by trainers are also a bit limited

I'm a teacher - I've never known of this "furry training" of which you speak. Where does this occur?.

Sadly, very real. There are more stories I could tell about the fox but then it could get very identifying as we cant be the only family at the secondary school who discusses the latest fox antics around the dinner table.

My grand daughter did this on and off from about 5 years old to 12 or 13, we just accepted it with no fuss, if the circumstances were appropriate, Ie. not at school. She is now 17 and no longer wears a tail!

But wearing a high heel and pretending to be a high heel are different things. Forget fetish this is so divorced from reality it is the definition of insanity. I'm honestly surprised how many people on here think this is harmless. No wonder these kids are getting away with it.

No way sorry , no child of mine is wearing a tail. It is a thing, there are loads of them locally. Too anime, too closely aligned with other weird ideologies.

Could be our 11 yo daughter but she doesn't howls. Yet. I don't mind. It will pass.

Exactly. Doesn't happen. There are regularly threads about it on here though, and the claims keep being made.

*I'm a teacher - I've never known of this "furry training" of which you speak. Where does this occur??
I'd be intrested as well. It not been part of my CPD.

I'd be interested to hear from parents who allow this, and encourage it by the purchasing of items, as to how they think there's not something troubling going on?

Let's take away the blatant fetishism and issues with the furry community for a moment. 11+ children wearing tails and pretending to be animals either for a vast part of their day at home, or in public? Do you really think that's a normal thing for this age?

I'm not saying children should be growing up too fast or that we should be encouraging it. But this is abnormal behaviour for that age-group. When I was 11 I'd started my periods. My peers had outgrown dolls (at least they said they had), and we were moving into that strange gap between young childhood and adolescence.

For a brief while at university I tutored as a part time job. The 11 year olds were far beyond this sort of stage. It's a regression. If you had a new baby and an older sibling suddenly began to pretend to be a baby too, you'd think "ah, this is in response to the changes. Perhaps I'd better spend more time with them, or make sure they're involved, blahblahblah, etc."

Yet this is okay? If my child started doing this, I'd be concerned. Deeply. As for ASD children doing it, I'd probably be more concerned in case it left them in vulnerable situations they may not feel able to navigate.

It's not cute and it's not normal, and parents really need to take off the blinkers and get with it.