I get that people need to have issues, being perfectly content the whole time isn't normal and isn't necessary right. But today I have the biggest gripe with Social Media for taking minor issues, that effect such a small percentage of the population and building it up to mass proportions until it is all we are forced to see on our screens, hear on our radios and watch on our telly screens.
Last year it was breastfeeding. Personally, I have no issue with breastfeeding. If you feed your child, and you're out, and your child is hungry, then of course you must feed it. However, you don't need to take a photo of yourself doing it; do it so publicly that everyone around you cannot avoid looking in your direction; do it in the most public of places possible, just to gain the reaction of those around you.
Some people don't like it, some people get freaked out seeing boobs in public, some people get turned on seeing boobs in public. Feed your baby like we used to do before Facebook was invented - wherever you needed to and without drawing a crowd. It's not an issue, it's just feeding a baby!
This year it's all about gender neutral, and I'm now fuming. Social media has jumped onto the bandwagon, where someone has said to someone else "my daughter hates dolls, she only likes playing with trains but when I walked down the girls aisle of ToysRUs it was all dolls, this is a disgrace" and someone else responded "this is awful, the government are to blame. How dare they stereotype our children" and now everyone is obsessed with gender neutral.
Now, I don't have an issue with gender issues. I know of someone who at the age of 16 has started to go through a sex change. It was a long thought out process, and this person has lived through it whilst at secondary school and luckily has a very understanding family who have been very supportive. However, I do agree that this person is in a minority, and learned and they grew that they were in the wrong body. I do have an issue though with taking away a child's gender before they've even had a chance to explore it.
It is a fact, if you're born with a nünny then you are girl, if you're born with a winky then you are boy. FACT. That's biology. Another fact that separates boys and girls is puberty. Both sexes go through it differently, and cannot choose how this happens. So, my big question is, what is so wrong about treating boys and girls as they are and letting them decide themselves how they want to progress?
I have two daughters, aged 9 and 5, they were dresses a lot of the time and have long hair that sometimes hurts when I brush it. At the moment their favourite toys are dolls and they play houses, schools and other really girly games. When I tell them to play in the garden, they grab the football, they try and climb trees, they run through mud and get filthy dirty. Without any influence from myself, I asked them what they want to be when they grow up (please do bear in mind they love playing mummies at the moment). One wants to be an Archaeologist and the other a Scientist. Neither have said that they want to stay home and be a home maker.
When they play with their friends, they all play together, boys and girls. Sometimes my youngest will tell her boy friend to be her baby and she will mother him, other times she might say that she is his dog and he needs to take her for a walk. Her imagination is immense and all her own. She decides what she wants to do, but she knows that she is a girl.
If I take my girls shopping to the toy shop (rarely) and they don't fancy any more dolls down the pink aisle, then they will go down the blue aisle and look at Transformers or Batman toys and they might choose something there. It doesn't make them gender neutral to be playing with "boys toys", it makes them normal.
For the very, very small minority of parents who might be worried about their children's gender, I say to you, deal with it with your child. Understand their likes and dislikes and act accordingly.
To everyone else, I say let your child be the child they are. Don't confuse them more than life already does. Don't follow social media if you can't laugh it off either.
