There was a piece of reported news that the church has administered a set of guidelines to its thousands of schools regarding how best childhood could be a period of exploration of projects and identities, whatever the word “identities” means. I feel discomfited that the innocent child has been burdened in such a manner instead of spending time between play and school, as I did during my childhood. If this wasn’t enough, some schools in the West are giving all encouragement for children to explore their gender identities. Was this issue of ‘gender identity’ present half a century ago?
In those times kids grew up as they were born, a girl growing up to be a woman and a boy growing up to be a man. At best a daring girl would be termed a ‘tom-boy’ and a chicken hearted boy a ‘sissy’. The issue stopped there and got resolved as the kids grew older. I remember a girl who would dress like a boy with a suiting short haircut and wear a shirt and pant. She was an orphan and roamed about the town freely doing odd jobs and sustaining herself. She had the habit of teasing school-going kids in the bus by a simple tap on the head which I remember would scare them no end as she looked different.
Nowadays we see many young girls in similar attire and it doesn’t look different as it is common! Some prefer the short cut (‘boy’ cut as it is again popularly called) for the comfort, convenience or a show of attitude. All this is a part of cultural and societal changes even as we see boys sporting bracelets and earrings as a fashion statement. The serious question of gender identity doesn’t crop up here. Does this seeming crisis abound in the lower animals? There a cow is a benign female and a bull, well, a bull. Are we complicating issues just because we are ‘thinking-intelligent’ animals? Children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood in all their innocence rather than grapple with ideas such as their own gender identity, which if necessary can be handled in adulthood. A child is best known to his or her parents and they are the persons to take suitable action if they notice something amiss in their ward. Simple interaction and counselling may be the solution in most cases.
Needless awareness given may make a child question and doubt every single attribute which may not conform to the general trend, and venture to draw hasty conclusions. A child is like a flowering bud and needs to open up in an environment of intellectual curiosity, physical activity and a healthy group of friends along with a large dose of love and warmth from parents or caregivers.
Childhood is for – exploration of fantasies through fun reading, a sweet play time with dolls, rolling in the sand, time with pets, throwing carefree snowballs, outdoor sports, blissful time with the bounties of nature like green fields or cascading waterfalls or a sea swept beach, a visit to a Wonderland or a Disneyland and so on, and not for exploration of whether one is a she or a he.
