One of the real-life cases in this book was a six year old
boy who liked girl stuff; dolls, girls’ clothes, playing with the girls at
school and not the boys. It drove his mother crazy, infuriated his father, and
left them tearing their hair out trying to get him to do gender appropriate
things. He loved going to the home of a cousin of the same age, so he could
play dress-up in her clothes. If you’re wondering, the answer is yes, his aunt
and uncle were seriously creeped out!
I don’t know when this was written, but transgender kids are
all over the news nowadays, being interviewed by Barbara Walters. Twenty years
ago, however, the parents would not have been encouraged to allow their son to
wear a dress to school. The chapter, as with all others, comes with questions to
ponder, such as how you’d feel in the clothes of the other gender, and having
to do gender stereotyped activities. Would you feel bored? Out of place?
Generally uncomfortable?
There are more cases in this book, equally important, mostly
involving children. Some involve anxiety that keeps kids out of school, or
teenagers with PTSD. All of them are worth reading, because they’re all the
kind of things that a therapist will deal with. No theories here like in the
usual psychology textbook, no going on and on about Vygotsky, Freud, and
Piaget. These are the real things that a therapist will deal with.
But the case of the transgender kid was probably the most
interesting. The next volume could be a whole book about families coping with
this.
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