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Notes -
Yeah, it's crazy when kids are like this.
It's amazing how few people grow out of this. Like @netstack and @ArjinFerman both talked about, it's rare and difficult for people to be willing to change their mind.
I don’t think it’s that weird. Kids just naturally absorb what they’re told about the world, and have an extreme need to please the tribe (I believe this is evolutionary as a child to young to hunt and defend himself is absolutely dependent on the good will of his tribe) a condition that usually persists until at least late high school and for many people until they move away from home.
And so when a child is affirmed for a statement of “wanting to be the opposite gender” (whatever form this might take) at an age before they can possibly understand what it means (some kids start in kindergarten) and are immediately praised and celebrated and given new names and new clothes and redecorate their room and whatever else, it’s hard to stop. Kids will stay in activities they absolutely despise to please mom and dad who are so proud to have a baseball player in the family, or a musician, or whatever. So they keep playing, hate it, but dad is reliving his childhood. That’s nothing compared to the pre-transition social transitions in which everything is redone to conform to the new gender: name, dress, social activity, manners. To “quit” means to not only give up the stunning and brave status, but to lose friends, to change their name back, to learn to dress and act like their natal gender (and probably fail at it), and probably disappoint their parents and teachers as they lose status.
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