My friend is at the airport on her way to Hawaii. Her family is pumped because they are heading to the Disney Island Resort of Mickey awesomeness.
But, six hours is a long time with three kids on a plane, so she herds her adorable brood of blond tots to the potty for one last go.
And this is what she encounters…
Text from Friend: “How do I explain this to my kids?”
I won’t treat you to the text I wrote back because it’s politically incorrect.
But I will say this. Be very careful near airports!
There are apparently uniboob half-skirted creatures walking around with surly expressions and no one can stop them from making weird faces and peeing in this airport bathroom because the government says you can pick your gender and expression.
I must confess some confusion over the peeing part. If you are a dude and you get a sex change, do you lose or keep the unit? Some do and some don’t right?
(In all honesty, my parent’s wouldn’t let me see the “Crying Game” which I’m sure would have explained some of this.
Do they have fake vajayjay’s? And how do the doctors re-pipe? Anatomy didn’t cover this and I’m afraid to Google it on my work computer. It’s like Jr. High again. I laughed with all the other kids about the “69” graffiti on the wall but I didn’t actually know what it meant until college.
So how do mommies and daddies explain trans-gender to the kids when we are clueless too?
I know there are a few TV shows on the Family Channel now to help us make sense of our changing culture–“I am Cait” and “Help..my dad is turning into a woman.” But, strangely enough, I haven’t found compelled to watch.
So, here’s what I’m telling my kids.
Mommy doesn’t personally understand the motives to move towards trans-gender, but she does understand brokenness and its ramifications. She know sadness and loneliness and the extreme measures people will go to find the elusive happiness that eludes them.
Your purpose and meaning go far beyond your sexuality. Your identity is not in your maleness or femaleness or even in ambiguity.
Your identity is in Christ alone. But culture is sending a very different message to you.
The world says we can choose our identity by choosing our gender. Mommy disagrees.
Male and female God created them. In God’s image. We are all a reflection of our creator.
Our identity is in CHRIST ALONE.
I believe Trans-gender is throwing us all for a loop but it doesn’t have too.
It’s pretty simple. Our job is to love God and love our neighbor. And yes, that means the trans-gender neighbor-even if it’s awkward and confusing.
The truth is we are all in some type of bondage to the lies of culture. Some of us just wear the chains on the outside and it’s more obvious. I too have bought into the lies of sex, beauty and materialism equaling my worth. Only a belief in something bigger can deliver us.
Trans-gender is complicated and messy and its’ really hard to explain to kids. But it’s a conversation we all need to initiate because it’s not going away.
I hope you wrestle with this dialogue too. Let me know what you think and how you are explaining it.
–Samantha
And please, I’m cool if you disagree but keep it clean. Only grown-up comments please.
