Children protesting at DfE

[MyOliveDog]

Shocked to see this thread on X about children protesting at DfE and planning to stay out all night asking for random adults to go and provide “protection”.
https://x.com/mforstater/status/1828912578631725277?s=46&t=0kj2teDK1iyM7jd4u9rCqQXthread

So many questions.

Arrest the climber.

Then Mummy and Daddy can be reported to social services or they can be held responsible for their actions as an adult.

Well none of those demands were written by an actual child. Who is behind this and driving this, using vulnerable children? This is sinister. As for being watched over for their safety, should probably get some GC people down there sharpish, because they seem to be the only people who genuinely care about vulnerable children.

these kids are totally being exploited.

They’re being fed lies and left vulnerable.

Fucks’ sake maybe a bunch of local mumsnetters should go down and take them some soup.

Thanks Dredge.

So, reading this it is further evidence of the over investment in mantras and ideology. The teen climbed the wall to ‘rescue’ the beloved sign, joined by another protestor as well.

The entire article is highly emotional. The ‘fears’ that their protest efforts would be scuppered! How? By being carried off? No… by staff entering through the back entrance! Oh la! The danger!

It really seems that some rationality needs to be poked into those safe bubbles to allow these children to be able to cope with life. And to understand that no one has to uphold their beliefs at all.

I wouldn't necessarily blame the parents! Surely we've all seen examples where parents are utterly disregarded, kept in ignorance of their own kids 'social transition' at school, threatened if they aren't 100% 'affirmative', and kids are actively encouraged to leave home .

some parents have led/pushed their kids on this path but not all.

If they don't know where their kids are and they are under 16 it's absolutely something the parents are legally responsible for.

About 8 years ago I was doing some training in a primary school I worked at. There was a big thing about resilience, how schools really need to be encouraging it and how important it was for their development.

We are seeing how that lack of reliance is negatively impacting kids and young people.

"Our identities...should not be subject to external validation"?!

I think we all agree on that one. No one should be required to validate your internal identity.

"Our reality should be reflected in what we learn about in education "

Absolutely. Your sex doesn’t change, gender ideology is a sexist construct that embeds harmful stereotypes. You need to learn that.

I remember that resilience was a big thing in schools too. It turns out though that groups in society don’t want children and young people to be resilient, don’t want them to cope with adversity.

The problem is ‘resilience’ can be another version of ‘be kind’; girls objecting to boys in their changing room? They should be more resilient!

Everytime I see adolescents like this protesting and handing out leaflets with such gaslighting statements that don’t really even say what they want the statements to say, I am reminded who is behind this.

The adults who have indoctrinated these children with the thoughts that some people ‘don’t want them to exist’ and that some people ‘want them to die without treatment’ and so on. The hyperbole we see rolled out on threads on MN and social media is pervasive and persuasive to this group of children. And then they grow up and perpetuate this.

The problem is ‘resilience’ can be another version of ‘be kind’; girls objecting to boys in their changing room? They should be more resilient!

Only if applied unequally. Obviously those boys need more resilience to be gender nonconforming within their own sex; more resilience to 'misgendering' etc.

Except that resilience should not mean accepting a situation that can be reasonably be said to be unsafe. Based on historical precedence and observation.

Products of a childhood spent sitting in front of a computer screen for hours on end without an adult monitoring their viewing. Why didn’t their parents pass on some healthy habits or encourage critical thinking?

But resilience is probably more important than kindness (which should not be confused with fairness)* and I think it’s probably more acceptable to men for boys to be resilient than kind so I’m not sure it would be misused in the same way “be kind” is.

I think there’s plenty of men don’t think kindness is important in boys/men but they do see the importance of grit.

(*Im not suggesting you’ve confused them, btw, it’s a general comment.)

I suppose that assumes parents are able to do that? As a generalisation these are skills that are being lost.

Parents who buy their daughter's drugs from GenderGP and then encourage them to keep climbing/bouldering probably don't do much critical thinking (or saying No)

Why wouldn’t parents be able to do this? I’m not being goady, I’m genuinely interested in your perspective. I try not to infantilise people who choose to have children: don’t most of us put some effort and thought into how we raise our children? Of course we all make mistakes that we beat ourselves up about but that list of demands posted by @McLeodIsPronouncedMcloud comes from children who live in la-la land and who are overly obsessed with their “identity”. Perhaps an adult has never stepped in to provide a neutral or realistic perspective.

Francesca - I’m not sure it’s infantilising to recognise not all adults have developed critical thinking skills (and I certainly don’t think mine are that sharp, so I’m not judging anyone). I’m not even sure it’s right to assume we (as a society) have always all had that ability. There’s always been received wisdom and blind acceptance.

Look at how things like “we only use 10% of our brain” or “drink a hot cuppa on a hot day to cool down” are trotted out as fact. A lot of people just accept what people tell them without asking questions.

Yup - maybe the kids need more time learning critical thinking?

I think that the parents of these kids know where they are and what they are doing. They may not all be happy about it but they've allowed it. The grim focus these kids have on suicide and self-harm will be scaring their parents into compliance with the risky behaviour on show at this protest.

I'm sure we've all met parents who don't set and enforce consistent boundaries for their children, and seem to struggle with saying no or upsetting their children in any way. I expect they are well represented in the cohort of parents of trans-identified 'kiddos'.

Isn't that what Prevent is essentially supposed to be all about... ?

This. Plus the toxic adults behind all this, pushing the young to discard their parents and families.

So Grin was also given testosterone by a GP at 14? They are 17 now

From the Guardian article

"He has now been on puberty blockers, bought from abroad, for four years and, through his GP, has been taking the masculinising hormone testosterone for three years"