My 9-year-old came home after RSE believing that it’s possible to change bodies. And to simply get a new one if yours is not right. But you have to really really really believe you have the wrong one, and that way you can get a new one.
Of course this was message was meant to be about gender identity and transitioning. But my child is 9 and has the understanding and language skills of a 9 year old.
My child has grown up seeing me struggling with my disability, a physical battle every day with chronic pain and mobility. He’s endured teasing at school because I use a wheelchair and he’s missed out on so many normal everyday activities that kids do with their parents because I couldn’t do it with him.
My son has had to grow up understanding that my body has limitations and that it can’t be changed or cured. That I will get progressively worse over time. He has had to also accept that he has this same genetic condition, and can see his future when he looks at me.
But then his teacher told him he could change his body, he just head to really really really believe he had the wrong one. He asked me what I haven’t changed my body for one that works.
When complaining to the Head Teacher, my concerns were described as ‘difficult to balance in this day and age’ and he was in a similar position now with this topic as he was in the days of Section 28.
The requirement from DfE to teach accurate fact based information to children had been lost on him and he was completely unaware of his obligations, instead I was called out as a transphobe for objecting to teaching kids it’s possible to be born in the wrong body.