Everyone (including kids and teens) should have full bodily autonomy. This includes how they express gender. Parents should not be allowed to circumcise/mutilate their kids’ genitals for reasons that aren’t medically necessary, nor should they be allowed to lay their hands on their kids in a violent way (and yes, that includes “only” spanking). Parents who hit/spank their kids should be charged with assault and child abuse.
Kids and teens having basic rights might not be controversial here, but in the rural area that I’m from, it certainly is.
Where do you draw the line? Not being combative, just curious. Like my toddler should not have bodily autonomy. I don’t think a 5 year old would handle that responsibility well either. At what age do you get it, or does it increase gradually?
I try to let my toddler choose who they hug, or let them pick their clothes when I can, but they are very dumb. They don’t understand the consequences of not wearing shoes, or insisting on a jacket on a hot day. They should have little to no autonomy over their diet or it would just be 15 bananas and constant constipation.
I am ON BOARD for discontinuing the barbaric genital mutilation that is the norm in my country, but do you let a teen get a breast augmentation or a nose job just because their high school peers are bullies? Your teen’s (and young adult’s) brain isn’t done cooking. Where’s the line for body modification expression? Even just evidence of ear piercings don’t go away fully for decades.
What are the basic rights kids and teens should have? (And sorry to hear you live in a community where physical abuse is normalized)
If there’s a legitimate health and safety concern, I’m not saying a parent can’t say no, but a parent telling a kid their expression has to be limited by their parents’ own biases is too far. So… no playing tag on the freeway, but a parent shouldn’t be able to tell a kid to expeess themselves in ways they don’t want to or follow a religion they don’t want to follow.
In the US when I was growing up, some kids got kicked out of their homes for being queer or for not being “Christian” enough. This is what comes to mind.
A person with childhood trauma or ADHD has a brain that doesn’t fully mature until well into their 30s. This is not a reason to deny someone bodily autonomy. If everyone else can smoke and drink whiskey, the gall it takes to tell someone they can’t have tits because you think maybe they will be disappointed.
In the rural are I’m in, my year old neighbor recently spanked her 2 year old grandson in front of me, on the street, because… he was walking into my yard while the adults were chatting. Which was a total non-issue. The kid’s mom, her daughter, wasn’t there. I’m cordial with the neighbor, but we’re not friends, and she had zero reason to think I’d condone it. It was so matter-of-fact. My own 9 year old was aghast.
It’s awful.
Everyone (including kids and teens) should have full bodily autonomy. This includes how they express gender. Parents should not be allowed to circumcise/mutilate their kids’ genitals for reasons that aren’t medically necessary, nor should they be allowed to lay their hands on their kids in a violent way (and yes, that includes “only” spanking). Parents who hit/spank their kids should be charged with assault and child abuse.
Kids and teens having basic rights might not be controversial here, but in the rural area that I’m from, it certainly is.
Where do you draw the line? Not being combative, just curious. Like my toddler should not have bodily autonomy. I don’t think a 5 year old would handle that responsibility well either. At what age do you get it, or does it increase gradually?
I try to let my toddler choose who they hug, or let them pick their clothes when I can, but they are very dumb. They don’t understand the consequences of not wearing shoes, or insisting on a jacket on a hot day. They should have little to no autonomy over their diet or it would just be 15 bananas and constant constipation.
I am ON BOARD for discontinuing the barbaric genital mutilation that is the norm in my country, but do you let a teen get a breast augmentation or a nose job just because their high school peers are bullies? Your teen’s (and young adult’s) brain isn’t done cooking. Where’s the line for body modification expression? Even just evidence of ear piercings don’t go away fully for decades.
What are the basic rights kids and teens should have? (And sorry to hear you live in a community where physical abuse is normalized)
If there’s a legitimate health and safety concern, I’m not saying a parent can’t say no, but a parent telling a kid their expression has to be limited by their parents’ own biases is too far. So… no playing tag on the freeway, but a parent shouldn’t be able to tell a kid to expeess themselves in ways they don’t want to or follow a religion they don’t want to follow.
In the US when I was growing up, some kids got kicked out of their homes for being queer or for not being “Christian” enough. This is what comes to mind.
A person with childhood trauma or ADHD has a brain that doesn’t fully mature until well into their 30s. This is not a reason to deny someone bodily autonomy. If everyone else can smoke and drink whiskey, the gall it takes to tell someone they can’t have tits because you think maybe they will be disappointed.
Children and animals are both vulnerable individuals deserving of full bodily autonomy.
Agreed.
In the rural are I’m in, my year old neighbor recently spanked her 2 year old grandson in front of me, on the street, because… he was walking into my yard while the adults were chatting. Which was a total non-issue. The kid’s mom, her daughter, wasn’t there. I’m cordial with the neighbor, but we’re not friends, and she had zero reason to think I’d condone it. It was so matter-of-fact. My own 9 year old was aghast. It’s awful.