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How to raise gender agnostic children - a blog post by Mommyshravmusings

Why it’s important to raise Gender Agnostic Children?

Gender Equality is one of the most talked-about topics, along with breaking barriers. Especially during this season, when International Women’s Day is just around the corner, entire social media would be flooded with messages and tips as to how and why to break the barriers and how we can achieve gender equality. Through this article, I want to stress the fact that how seeds sown at the right time will yield better fruits; in a similar way, if we can sow the seeds of gender agnostic feelings into our children, then we would be living in a much better gender-neutral world, where we don’t have to talk about breaking the barriers. And as a parent, that’s our most important step towards breaking the barriers or working towards developing a gender-neutral society.

What is meant by Gender Neutrality?

Even though we are in the 21st century, we still carry forward our ideas of gender stereotyping and pass on those very same old and irrelevant beliefs to our future generations, by intention or by habits. That is the reason why gender neutrality has become the need of the hour.

We need to treat our children or even fellow human beings as individuals and human beings. Not as a girl or a boy. Once, when we achieve that maturity in our thoughts, then everything would fall into its own space. We all agree that there are some psychological differences in the construct of a girl or boy, along with anatomical differences. But these differences don’t make one weaker or the other stronger. In ancient India, both men and women were treated equally, and have been showcased even in our scriptures. Where everybody has the freedom to choose what is right for them without any pressure or expectations. In doing what is right for each of the genders, both of them used to respect and support the other gender. We need to go back to those principles and start living by them, which removes all these gender barriers from our thoughts themselves. You can read my article about it here.

What is meant by Gender-Neutral Parenting?

Experts confirm that most children would be able to identify not only their own gender but also start understanding the basic gender differences by the age of three. And that is the time when they start receiving different messages about gender stereotyping from their parents as well as their extended family, friends, and neighbors. And that’s how the seeds of gender inequality get sown in them.

In gender-neutral parenting, we first identify and come out of our own gender biases and raise the child as an individual first. In this process, we don’t stereotype our child with toys, books, or dresses. We have to introduce our child to the gender differences as an individual instead of as a boy or girl.

How to raise gender agnostic children - a blog post by Mommyshravmusings

Children who are raised in a gender-neutral manner will have more compassion towards all genders. Whereas the other children will tend to exhibit mostly only sympathy, and a few show empathy (that again is based on how they were reared in their childhood) towards the other genders.

When both genders show compassion towards each other and help each other during the time of need, then there is nothing like that. We will be working as the two wheels of a two-wheeler, which is helping the other wheel to maintain balance. Society needs all genders to flourish, and all of them play equally an important role. No one is weaker or stronger. If we are able to instill these thoughts into our children at a tender age itself, then we are successful as a parent in raising gender agnostic children.

Dr. Charles Raison

Tips to Raise Gender Agnostic Children.

1. Start Early:

Try to remove gender stereotyping by letting the child pick up the color that he/she likes. There is no steadfast rule that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Even boys can paint their nails if they like it. Girls can play with guns or mechanic sets; boys can play with kitchen sets. When we as parents show an open mind towards all these gender biases like colors, toys, and dresses that normally get sown at a tender age, the child would be more open to trying out everything.

2. Children observe and learn a lot

Children, by nature, learn a lot by just observing. So, as parents, we need to remove the casual remarks about gender in our talks with friends and families. Let me relate this incident that happened almost six years back but is still fresh in my memory. My child came to me rushing to me one day from the park with a confused look on his face. When I inquired about it, he blurted out, saying that some people casually passed on a remark in the park that the parents of sons are really lucky and don’t have to struggle. I just couldn’t fathom his statement, and when I inquired in detail, I got to hear that his friend’s mother remarked that sending girls to school is difficult as they need extra time to style their hair. That set the ball rolling in my young son’s mind. That might be just a casual remark for that mother, but it became a gender statement for a young child, and we need to desensitize the child about all those remarks, isn’t it?

And our society is full of such people who pass casual remarks in such a gender-stereotypical manner. Hence, we as parents must at least start providing a gender-neutral environment at home and sensitize our children about such remarks.

3. Inculcate respect towards all gender

We need to start educating our children that whether it’s a boy or a girl, that person is an individual and has their own individuality and their own personal boundaries at a young age. We need to respect them as individuals and not as girls or boys.

The most common remark that the child gets to hear is that girls are weak and need to be handled with care by society in the form of movies and stories. My child wasn’t really interested in reading the fairy tales as he was asking why those girls were waiting for the prince and rescuing them. Why they didn’t try to save themselves? I took that opportunity to explain the real grit and hard work the girls do in various roles, though their bodies look fragile.

In fact, the other most common statements one gets to hear are “Don’t cry like a girl” or “Be a man,” which says that boys can’t cry or boys are the only courageous and strong ones. Can anyone deny the fact that becoming a mom and suffering the delivery pains is the most courageous thing an ordinary human like us does? When we as ladies are able to bear those pains, then why should we tell our own boys only to be strong and not girls? This doubt never left me from my childhood.

4. Have a period talk:

Irrespective of the gender of your child, parents need to have the period talk with their child when they reach an appropriate age. But that talk needs to be fine-tuned in such a way that even the boys understand the emotional and physical turmoil the ladies go through during their monthly cycles. That way, the boys can provide the required support and strength to girls during that time and handle them gently. I even took this chance to explain the pains a mom has to undergo to deliver a baby and how her entire psychology changes after the baby is born. This made my child more empathetic towards girls.

5. Set the same rules and boundaries

In order to raise gender agnostic children, we as parents have to set the same rules for both girls and boys.

  • Every individual, irrespective of their gender, needs to be treated with respect.
  • Provide opportunities to mingle and play with other genders.
  • Read them more gender agnostic books and not the books that stereotype the genders.
  • Teach them to think from other person’s shoes, which not only improves their empathy but will make them more compassionate.
  • When we teach our girls to dress or behave appropriately, we also need to teach the boys how to look and treat girls with respect.
  • The cooking and cleaning are household duties and are not really gender-specific.
  • Time limits about the curfew times are applicable for both boys and girls.
  • We need to provide support and encouragement for their dreams and aspirations, irrespective of their gender.

Final thoughts:

A child will always have an open mind and is willing to work towards gender neutrality when trained right. So, as parents, it’s our duty to raise our children far away from those biased thoughts, which is an ideal scenario. When we can’t raise our child in that ideal Ethiopian way, we at least can talk about the logic behind those irrational biases to our child and why we need to ditch them so that the child wouldn’t carry them forward. By teaching our children to be gender agnostic, we are taking our first baby steps towards a gender-neutral society.

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33 Comments

  1. Really enjoyed reading this post and absolutely agree on each and every point – it was like you were writing my thoughts! If we want to see change in the future it is extremely important to raise gender agnostic children. Thanks for a lovely post!

    1. Thank you, Sakshi.? Yeah, this is the most needed step in the current world, raising gender agnostic kids

  2. Totally with you, Suhasini.
    Each and every point is bang on.
    Such education must be there in every home and school. Kids must learn compassion and respect people- irrespective of gender, and also nationality, colour of skin etc.
    What a lovely world we will have if we all decide to take care.

    1. Thanks a lot, Anita. Yeah, it’s a much-needed life lesson for kids.

  3. Very well penned down, Suhasini. It’s one of the most important aspects of raising a bias-free society. A society that we all have been dreaming for.

    1. Thank you Debi. I wish that society would unfold sooner in front of us.

  4. Read the post and agree with each point. Good tips for raising gender neutral kids. They are our future. I had written on a similar topic few days back
    https://wizardencil.com/kinder-joy-and-teaching-the-future-generation-gender-equality/

    1. Thank you Sreeparna for dropping by. I already read your post, it was well written one.

  5. Well written and completely agree with all your points. The color, the choices, the toys, the emotions, the clothes a child picks are full of bias. We need to teach our children to respect all genders with equality. Lovely post.

  6. So true. I have two girls and I live in a joint family. so there are 2 girls and 2 boys. But they all play equal. They all love to play with doll house along with cars and all. As you said, it all starts with us.

    1. Correctly said Sadvika. Everything starts with us only.

  7. a very articulated article discussing on how and why genders should show compassion towards each other and help each other during the time of need. A must read for everyone.

  8. Very relevant article Suhasini. All the action points for raising gender agnostic children are well articulated. I would even add that let’s not forget we need to be sensitive to the struggles that boys and men go through as well with puberty and stereotyping. Mutual compassion and empathy are really important.

    1. Yeah, you have a very valid point Sonia. Thanks for dropping by

  9. This is progressive parenting, and you’ve laid out so well how to raise gender agnostic children. #breakthebiasbloghop #breakthesilence

  10. Suhasini, this is a very informative piece. Gender agnostic parenting is clearly outlined in this guide. Break7mg the bias start from home. #breakingthebias #breakthesilence

  11. Suhasini, you have listed good pointers to raise gender neutral kids. We all need to be aware of all the actions and words when kids are around, as they pick the words and observe the adults and few lines just get imprinted in their childhood that goes with them life long.

    1. Thank you for your kind words

  12. The article gives a fresh perspective to make sense of things.

  13. Parents pass to children the values and beliefs they posses. One needs to keep reflecting on their views and beliefs. Self-aware, compassionate and conscious parents will raise empowered, self-aware, compassionate and conscious kids. But most of the time, parents just pass the knowledge which society expects them to. Your article would be the first step in making the parents aware of it. Thank you

    1. Thank you Lavina. I really appreciate your kind words

  14. Completely agree with all that has been said.I hope I am able to do this on a daily basis with my son n daughter. Your writing will be a good reminder to put up to check my parenting score

    1. Thank you Shveta for those kind words

  15. Suhasini,
    You have made it so much simpler to break the gender bias by starting young when the mind is so much more pliable.
    “Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
    By narrow domestic walls……”
    ……………………………………..-Rabindranath Tagore.

    1. Yeah, so true Himali thanks a lot for dropping by.

  16. Gender agnostic parenting is the need of the hour and not only we need to teach our kids but we also need to show in our actions. Where the house work is done by both do kids know it’s not gender Dependent

    1. Thank you for dropping by

  17. […] Here are some tips for you to raise gender-agnostic teens. […]

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