teaching our kids about the world

i have this really deep conviction that we, as parents, are responsible for teaching our kids about the world. i'm not sure i know exactly where it's come from, but i do know that my parents did their best to teach me. they taught me how to behave in public, how to speak to adults, how to eat a variety of foods, that racism exists and that it's not fair. they taught me how they believed the world worked, and how we could live within those constraints. it wasn't always accurate, but it was guidance and i feel like i have some kind of secure foundation to stand on as an adult. a frame of reference, if you will. one from which i know i can decide right from wrong and what my own opinion is and how i can understand where others stand.

so, when i read stories about how:

California has become the first state in the nation to allow transgendered students to choose which school bathrooms and locker rooms to use and which sport teams to join based on their gender identity.

i feel both anger (towards parents and adults that fight for that kind of thing) and a sense of dread (about the future for these kids). i mean, there is some degree to which i understand that we live in a really cruel world, and that a transgenered child may actually be in danger (of physical and emotional bullying) if they go into the wrong bathroom... i still think those kinds of decisions need to be on a case by case basis. i feel we are doing a dis-service to kids, allowing them to think the world will accommodate and change norms for their differences. we (as human beings) need to know how to work within boundaries, and i believe this ruling is ruining that essential lesson. i also wonder if mixing bathrooms and sports teams will result in young people getting physically and sexually harassed more. i mean, think about a transgender girl trying to change in the boy's locker room after a game. do you really think that all the boys will always behave? i am actually afraid for general safety. lastly, the transgendered kids, though in a tough situation, are the minority, and the majority is paying the price. even as an adult, i would feel uncomfortable using a bathroom stall next to a person with male genitalia. this is, and always will be, true. it's not because i hate men or transgendered folks.

oh, and also, the story makes it seem like this ruling will help ease discrimination and prejudice against transgendered folks. can you tell me how this would happen? 

the world is so broken.

lovelove,

me