{"id":216923,"date":"2021-04-01T22:56:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/no-padma-we-shouldnt-let-our-kids-do-anything-they-want-without-question\/"},"modified":"2021-04-01T22:56:35","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T19:56:35","slug":"no-padma-we-shouldnt-let-our-kids-do-anything-they-want-without-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/no-padma-we-shouldnt-let-our-kids-do-anything-they-want-without-question\/","title":{"rendered":"#No, Padma, we shouldn’t let our kids do anything they want without question"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#No, Padma, we shouldn’t let our kids do anything they want without question<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Remember when it was general<\/a>ly accepted that lunatics shouldn\u2019t run the asylum, the criminal justice system wasn\u2019t necessarily run for the benefit of criminals, and parents were supposed to guide children until they were wised up enough to make responsible decisions?<\/p>\n

Poof. All that\u2019s gone. Parents are now being told, and will perhaps soon be ordered, to accept whatever their children tell them as inarguable reality, at least in one category.<\/p>\n

Celebrity television personality Padma Lakshmi distilled the new wisdom in the following much-discussed Twitter comment<\/a>: \u201cIf you can\u2019t accept your child for who they\u2019re telling you they are, then you have no business being a parent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakshmi was thinking only of one specific area of acceptance: kids who say they\u2019re transgender.<\/p>\n

But surely it can\u2019t be a blanket policy to accept whatever kids say. If a kid insists he can fly out the apartment window and land safely near the ice cream truck, I\u2019m guessing even Padma Lakshmi would be fairly adamant about not accepting this. If the same kid claimed he was grown up enough to ride in the front seat, or to stay up \u2019til 4 a.m. watching porn, or to have candy bars for lunch, I doubt Lakshmi would reply, \u201cI accept you for who you are, little Batman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Come to think of it, we hardly ever accept what kids want. \u201cI want a Harry Styles tattoo.\u201d \u201cI want to live in a tree.\u201d \u201cI want my little sister relocated to the nearest orphanage and\/or composting facility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Padma
Padma Lakshmi attends the 30th Annual IFP Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on January 11, 2021.<\/figcaption>
Dimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images for 30th Annual IFP Gotham Awards<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You might say that being a parent is mainly about saying \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phrasing any of this in terms of identity doesn\u2019t make it a better idea: \u201cI identify as a person who does not wear pants\u201d doesn\u2019t impress too many parents.<\/p>\n

That ought to be the first red flag, then: Why is \u201cI was born the wrong gender\u201d the one unlikely statement that, above all other unlikely statements made by children, something we should assume to be true? We know that transgenderism is something that app<\/a>lies to only a very small percentage of people. We know that kids are impulsive and hormone-driven and do all sorts of crazy things to act out, particularly if their lives are falling short of expectations in some area. We also know that some people who jump into transgendering procedures without giving due consideration to what will happen to them later come to regret it, with tragic ramifications. Some actions are not reversible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink carefully before you do something that is going to change the course of your life, and that goes double for young people\u201d is generally sound advice. Parents who wish to protect their children advise them to proceed with caution, not to follow their whims. No parent should tell his or her kid, \u201cLeap before you look, Princess Leia.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n