Mother of Gender-Secret Baby 'Unschools' Her Children

[Geee]

CNSnews:

NEW YORK (AP) — Ridiculous or ultra-enlightened? A Toronto couple's decision to keep the gender of their 4-month-old baby a secret has touched off a sometimes nasty debate over how far parents should go in protecting young ones from society's boy-girl biases.

Kathy Witterick and David Stocker recently landed on the front page of The Toronto Star, explaining that they hope their third child, Storm, can remain untouched by the connotations of pink versus blue, male versus female, long enough to make up his or her own mind.

The decision has online haters and supporters of the family on hyperdrive. Child development experts, meanwhile, question the impact on the cherubic infant later in life and whether the couple has gone too far in their quest for gender neutrality.

"This is not a secret without consequences," said Mike Brody, a child psychiatrist in Washington, D.C., and instructor at the University of Maryland. "This seems more controlling than the helicopter parents."

Soon after the baby was born, in a pool of water at home, Witterick, 38, and Stocker, 39, sent an email announcing to loved ones: "We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)."

[pollyannaish]

It's odd to hear the mother was "stung" by comments about her other children wearing pink and sporting long hair and braids. For crying out loud, that is by no means odd in this day and age. I see it all the time. The dress thing is unusual, but not completely. Guys wear kilts a lot in some areas. Big deal.

 

And when I ask a parent "boy or girl" I am generally just being polite and making conversation.

 

People take things far too personally these days. If someone is taken aback by something you do as a parent, well, you shrug it off. If it bothers you, you have to ask yourself if you are not completely comfortable with what you are doing.

 

This worrying about "what other people think" and trying to control it is crazy and NONE of this will come to a good end.

 

And my money is on a third boy.

[Casino67]

As long as these whack-o's continue to get media attention, their ideas will get stranger and stranger. A normal society ignores them and their ideas. IMO.

[Valin]

Geee

 

Kathy Witterick and David Stocker recently landed on the front page of The Toronto Star, explaining that they hope their third child, Storm, can remain untouched by the connotations of pink versus blue, male versus female, long enough to make up his or her own mind.

 

Two points

 

A. Some people have waaaay too much time on their hands.

 

B. Storm is going to have a real interesting time as she/he grows older and starts school.