A kindergarten teacher gave her class a show-and-tell assignment of bringing something to represent their religion.
The first little boy went to the front and said, “I’m Jewish,” and held up a picture of the Star of David.
The second boy came to the front and said, “I’m Catholic,” and held up a picture of a crucifix.
A third little boy came forward, held up his picture and explained, “I’m Baptist, and this is a casserole.”
That shows how impressionable little kids are. If a child sees his mom making and giving casseroles to people who have lost loved ones, or to those who are elderly or suffer from an illness, he could very well think casseroles represent their family’s religious affiliation.
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However, there are other ways children receive long-lasting impressions, as seemed to be the case as I listened to a 77-year-old man tell his story. I will try to retell it as closely to his description as possible.
At the age of four, he liked to play with dolls and so his grandmother, who babysat him, made dresses for him and they had a grand time playing together. He remembered how excited she was about him at those times, but she was never as excited about him as a boy. It left him with thoughts of feeling something was wrong with him.
At the age of six, his parents heard about the dress-up game and put a stop to it. However, he still wrestled with being a boy, and this was only complicated when he was sexually assaulted by a male relative a few years later.
During his teen years he struggled, dressing like a girl in private, since it was the 1950s and there was no one who could give him advice. Later, he got married and had children and a successful career, thinking that would solve the feelings he had, but it didn’t.
He used alcohol as a means to cope and finally went to see a therapist, who was an expert on gender issues.
The therapist advised hormone therapy and gender re-assignment surgery as treatment, with a two-year waiting period required for the surgery.
During this time, he got divorced and two years later had the surgery. He became a woman and had a successful career, but still struggled, even making a failed suicide attempt. Then he began studying psychology, and it became clear to him that he had a psychological issue that wasn’t going to be treated with hormones. He called it a self-diagnosed disorder.
Eight years later, he reverted back to being a male and now shares his story publicly. He hears from many individuals who have had the surgery and years later realized it was a mistake. This realization often takes place 10 or 15 years later. He also cited many incidents of brain cancer and blood clots resulting from the hormone therapy.
Studies show those having the surgery are attempting suicide at the rate of 40 to 50 per cent. As a result of his life experiences, this man (Walt Heyer) offers some advice.
He says children in these situations should be treated with psychotherapy. He noted that 100 per cent of the time he discovers something happened to that child that caused them to not want to be what they are.
He said if he had been affirmed as a boy, his life would have been much different. Lastly, he advises parents to take the lead and says schools should not be involved.
Newly-elected Ontario PC Party leader Doug Ford seems to agree, vowing to scrap Ontario’s radical sex-ed curriculum, which was implemented in spite of massive parental backlash. It introduces impressionable children to gender identity at the age of seven.
What kind of lasting impressions does this curriculum instil in children?
You can be sure the impressions made on the innocent minds of our children regarding gender will consist of far more influential images than that of a casserole or sugar and spice and everything nice.
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