To not buy her a tail, so she can be like her friend who ‘is a therian’

[Laura9899]

My ten year old has a friend who seems nice and has sane sensible normal parents and yet she wears a tail and tells my daughter she’s a therian. I’m not in any way happy with all the furry rubbish and this feels along the same lines. My daughter has now asked to be a cat for Halloween, then asked for a furry tail as part of her costume, and now I think it’s actually so she can join in with her friend. They are only ten so it’s likely just play but there’s no way I’m letting her go out in a tail 🙄.

I can’t agree more. Having been a teacher for 30+ years, I have only come across 2 children who pretended they were cats. They were identical twin girls and were both autistic. They lived in quite a dysfunctional family, with parents who left them to it most of the time. They became absolutely obsessed with being cats much to the derision from peers. It did become a real problem for them which escalated when they went to secondary school.
Most kids go through a ‘pretend’ phase when they’re very young - Spider-Man, Batman, Elsa and so on but usually grow out of it by about 5 or 6.

I could have written this about my DGD. It was a harmless phase but she had a lot of fun while it lasted and no harm was done.
If you ban it you make it far more attractive.

But have you never asked yourself why it’s a big thing? Have you researched ‘furries’? It IS a big thing - it’s an adult kink that children are being exposed to in order to normalise it.

She'll grow out of it by secondary. Live and let live.

Stick to your guns OP. If you want a reason, say you don't want your DD to be made fun of or bullied.

@Antisocial81

I’d nip it in the bud now and bring her back to the real world.

So would I. We’d not put up with, nor encourage any of that nonsense.

Sorry, @WorkingItOutAsIGo , what's wrong with being gay?

Please explain how the internet makes you gay?

Ffs.

I'm all for kids using their boundless imaginations, but this is one of those times where older and wiser parents need to nip something in the bud. The therian community is distinctly cringey. It takes all sorts but this really is something to stop, she'll look back and cringe at it one day! I cringe at some of my teen antics but therianism takes things to a whole other level.

Could see tail outline under her skirt up to her bum. It looked like a giant furry tampon string. @Beesandhoney123

😂Brilliant! It would have been hard to keep a straight face seeing someone dressed like this. It's so bizarre.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30806867/

https://oursaferschools.co.uk/2023/04/24/furries/

One of my favourite playground games at 10
was we played ‘families’ and had an imaginary house and we had different roles.

Quite. This thread is fucking weird, it's not the 10 year old who has a problem.

Exactly this.

Me and a friend used to pretend our bikes were motorbikes and we were in the police force. Make believe is part of childhood… declaring you’re a cat and wanting to wear a tail as if it’s part of your normal attire like socks, isn’t.
Growing up wanting to be a footballer, an astronaut or a princess is make believe. But wanting to be called something else because you’re wearing a tail, this is not playing dress up.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with being gay. I didn't say there was anything with being transgender either. I simply offered a specific piece of evidence in response to a particular claim.

Blimey! Some kids crazes are bizarre.

I’d let her have the Halloween costume.

Sadly the claim that the internet cannot make you gay or transgender is completely untrue.

Your exact words. First words of your post.

Again, please explain how the internet turns you gay.

Yes, I’m applying too. Especially attracted to lying on a bed all day and demanding food. I think I have the right CV for this

I think trying to stop/ban a 10 yr old from trying to express themselves (however weird that self-expression might be) is just gonna lead to conflict, them rebelling, the kid thinking the parents never try & understand them, and will genuinely result in the parent/child relationship deteriorating. It’s better to smile and nod and let them grow out of it in their own time. Mind you, I’d draw the line at asking others to indulge it. The child needs to learn that people will point and laugh and judge. It’s up to them how they navigate that but I wouldn’t want to be the bad guy by banning them from experiencing a phase that they might need to get out of their system

This.

I just wouldn't encourage this faddy stupidity. 🙄

Nope.

Whiskas for breakfast and dinner and put her out in the garden at night. She can lick herself lean, including her arse.

The claim was 'gay or transgender'. I offered evidence on one part of the claim - the transgender part. I said nothing about the gay part of the claim. It's simple logic: if you claim something cannot do 'A or B' and I prove it can do 'B', the entire claim falls because it includes both claims as a pair and I have shown one to be false.

On ‘turning you transgender’ specifically. My young adult son was convinced by people online that he was trans. To the extent that he secretly sourced blockers and hormones. He has since been diagnosed with autism and ADHD. He is no longer trans. There might be people on MN who are over dramatic, but there are also quite a few who seem really naive.