How do you protect your children from getting sucked into and brainwashed by this?

[jewishmum]

For reference I have one very young child of each sex.

I don't know what I've said or done by my child is very against transwomen in female sports. He is very competitive and very sporty with lots of female friends who participate in a lot of sport. He's now refusing to buy NIKE sports wear and regularly tells me it is unfair of men to try to dominate female sport. He recognises his female friends work just as hard at training as he does so expects they should compete against other females.

@caringcarer good on him. I hope my dc grow up with the same critical thinking skills. Good observation recognising all the work his female friends are putting in with their sports & men are still infiltrating their spaces.

Teaching them to be sound critical thinkers is the best way to navigate through the mind field of gender.
DS is 18 and has been studying A level psychology which covers how individuals can sometimes feel overwhelmed by group opinion rather than developing their own opinion. He is also quite knowledgeable about gender identity and is comfortable with those who are not at one with their gender but he doesn’t buy into trans women are women.
They have a trans girl in their year who has been gender fluid since yr7. School have handled it really well, primarily by not involving parents so the children have been able to make up their own minds. They have been accepting and kind without having to come out as gender warriors. There is a lot of “you do you”, they accept her choice but reserve the right to have their own opinion. She is not interested in creating a problem, she just wants to dress as a girl and is part of a large girl friendship group. I doubt any of them would protest actively for the trans movement but would be happy to live in harmony as they have done for the last 7 yrs.
They have explored the gender issue as a group in a real life situation without the influence of adults trying to explain. I think they are far more mature about the issue than we are. By seeing a pier go through the struggle with gender ID they are not likely to be indoctrinated by the whole hysterical gender movement, most of whom met their first trans gender person at Uni.
I know that DS would be able to debate the issue without being unkind or disrespectful. But he would advocate for women over transwomen every time.

?🙄mine field

He and his gf both play at county level and he recognises she does essentially the same training as him but his gf is a fast bowler but nowhere near the pace of average male pace bowlers. He would be furious if his gf had to play against male players with female names as he calls them. He now refuses to wear NIKE in solidarity with his gf and other female friends and is quite vocal telling other players in his team they should also support female athletes. He says if men don't speak out in support of female athletes then female sport will become a thing of the past.

@caringcarer it's heartwarming to hear of young men & teens who can totally see & comprehend what's happening... The tide will surely turn to a point where it's seriously uncool to be woke.

Send them to a school where the kids are more concerned about where there next meal will come from. Dealing with actual life issues leaves less time for navel gazing.

Sad fact is my kids go to school with many pupils in this situation and the ones in care with difficult home lives are sometimes the ones most caught up in it all.

I do think the schools kicked it off many years ago with a series of assemblies we weren't told about prior and soem very confused sex ed - 6-7 years ago and did feel very top down though that changed with time - then it was their friends so be kind kicks in now welsh government seems captured.

Though you see flashes - the scathing comments about the pink sport equipment to encourage girls in sports and how patronising that is. The zeitgeist does seem to be on the turn -though I still worry for them you have to hope you got them asking questions and critically thinking about things.

I agree 100% you have to be able to chat with them about this issue before someone else does. And someone else will. I try really hard not to influence my DS's thinking as he's entitled to form his own opinions on things. But I do make sure he understands the facts and I let him draw his own conclusion. He thinks people need to be helped to feel happy in their own body and accept who they are. As no matter what you do, your DNA can't be changed and you will never actually be the other sex or anything in between. So learning to accept who you are is the only way to not live a lie. And he doesn't think people can ever be truly happy living a lie.

Our primary school did the diversity week and they had "they can be any gender they feel" part but I haven't seen it come up again in the next few years.

My DS10-11 had friendship group in Y5-6 where one girl decided she was transboy. My DS being "bright academic" swallowed up gender ideology quickly (even learnt word TERF!) to support his friend and did fighting on his friends behalf. Then he and his other supportive friend decided they were non-binary and made up new names for themselves (didn't ask school to enforce).

Me and my DH tried not to make fuss, just focused on keeping communication open.

Turns out this trans friend had lots of serious problems at home without going into detail. Latest I heard is secondary school affirming the child and then family disappeared out of the area.

Now DS is 14 and he is all "I can't believe I was thinking this!"

My DD7 sadly has a best friend whose mum is an extremely vocal TWAW ally...

Thought I had a few more years until I needed to worry, except last week, DD came out with "Molly (not real name!)'s Uncle Charlie isn't a boy or a girl, he's in between!" 🙄🙄🙄

Cue me... "Well, that's a bit strange as there are only boys and girls..." And then telling the story of when we found out DD was a girl and her brother was a boy...

I think treating these issues in the same way we treat religious ones has helped. So my children have learned to be polite to those who have these beliefs, to understand that people often have different beliefs, and that they are under no obligation to share those beliefs, nor believe everything they're told.

I hope I've encouraged them to ask questions they never seem to bloody stop and test ideas out from different angles.

That sounds very sensible.