As parents, we try to teach our children to do the right thing at all times. That can be difficult, especially growing up in a world where there seems to be so much discussion about gender, and it is very easy to step on someone’s toes.
An experience about this was recently shared on Reddit. It seems as if a six-year-old boy had accidentally done the unthinkable and called a stranger at the grocery store Ma’am.
She said: “My 6 year old said ‘Yes Ma’am’ to someone at the grocery store bc they asked him if he was ready for school. The minute it came out of his mouth this persons mouth dropped and they looked disgusted.”
“They then turned to me and said ‘oh great! Youre teaching your kid to misgender people based off physical appearance…Mother of the Year!'” the mom explained. “They then turned to my son and said ‘I am NOT A MA’AM’ relatively loudly.”
“My son looked at me in horror and i stepped in front of him turned my back to the other person, hugged my son and told him not to be upset, some people can be really ugly but that all we can do is be polite and move on.”
“Now im all for people identifying as whatever they want,” the mom said. “I respect and accept everyone as long as they show me and my family the same respect. Ive spoken to my son and explained the situation the best i could in language that he would understand, but then he asked me ‘So what do I say if I want to be polite if I dont know if they are a ma’am or sir?’ I dont know how to answer that.”
As you can imagine, there were plenty of comments from those who read it. Some people were on her side, saying that their children still mess up when it comes to pronouns.
In the end, people didn’t think that the mother was doing anything wrong. She wasn’t trying to teach her son to misgender.
As one person put it: “If this person is going to hold a 6yo accountable for using the wrong pronouns accidentally, then their issue/s are the responsibility of a therapist, not you.”
Source: Reddit