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Bluey is targeted towards pre-school children. I'm not really bothered if my 4-year-old daughter sees stuff like this, it's just that she won't really understand things like "non-binary". It seems like a topic more appropriate for older children - maybe from age 8 or later?



At my kids’ childcare, by far the most popular educator is non-binary. They do a great job of listening to the kids, and talking to them without talking down to them. Come to think of it, the way they interact with the kids actually reminds me a fair bit of the parents in Bluey.

Both my kids (3 and 5 but now at school) have said stuff like “Today we did x with Greg. He’s not exactly a boy and not exactly a girl.” Then they get on with their day. To them, it’s just another person that’s a bit different to them.


I guess this is more common in US then.

I live in a pretty liberal European city, yet I haven't met any non-binary person. I know exactly one trans person, and only remotely (she lives in US). I guess to me, this topic seems "advanced", perhaps "irrelevant" in a way for such a small kid. There are many other things she needs to learn about, which she will commonly experience in the real world.


> I live in a pretty liberal European city, yet I haven't met any non-binary person.

Being nonbinary is kinda unusual, but it's also probably something that's super easy to be closeted about, if you don't know how people will react.

I mean in the 1980s I thought all 900 kids in my high school were straight, and that being gay was super uncommon.


80s in California... there was a sizable but not exactly large group. No one cared. We all knew "old people" were supposed to care, but it was more likely just a thing everyone had to pretend to care about on TV. None of the old people I knew cared either.

Future "not evenly distributed" and all that.


Depends on the circle. Tech industry in California, know 2 NBs, and 2 trans people (and then 2 more I knew transitioned after I left work and contact with them). I guess that does fit all the liberal stereotypes that people like to throw at my State.


I'm in London, and I've met a few non-binary people (enbys), and had at least two trans people in my school (one student, one teaching assistant; this was in the mid-2000s).


My 5-year-old understands that her older sibling is non-binary, so perhaps it is an appropriate topic even at this young age.


She might not understand it yet, but there's value in exposing young children to concepts you'd like them to understand later.


Kids have no trouble understanding these things. It's the stunted adults who create problems.


[flagged]


> Some people believe that whether you're a woman or a man is a thought in your head, and they also believe that these thoughts mean you can be neither, which they call 'non-binary'. It's helpful to respect these people's beliefs and act as if they are true, because they can get very angry and vindictive if you don't agree with them.

And then we ask why some kids wind up entrenched away from economic opportunity…

Like, if your only coping mechanisms for beliefs you disagree with—particularly about someone else’s private affairs—rise out of fear of retribution, you shouldn’t be in a decision-making role of any kind. It’s somewhat sad to see that baked into a kid from the get go, but maybe they’ll get over it without winding up resentful for the handicap.


The point is it's not a private affair. Retribution from people who react harmfully when others do not share their beliefs is a real thing, ask anyone who was brought up in a strict religious environment who became a non-believer. Sometimes the easiest path is minimal appeasement to avoid conflict where you'll end up worse off.


> it's not a private affair

Someone's sexuality or gender identity sure is. Given languages' pronouns evolve (e.g. a universal "you" in place of the informal "thou", or the aborted deprecation of "y'all"), that's not a reasonable hang-up.

> the easiest path is minimal appeasement to avoid conflict where you'll end up worse off

Sure, and instinctive conflict avoidance is a valid life strategy. It's just bad build for a decision maker. Someone conditioned in that behaviour is going into life with opportunities cordoned off.


Rarely is the virtuous path the easiest.


Meanwhile, other people get angry when such people’s mere existence is revealed to children!


That's quite an opinion you've put in quote marks there. Such a pity you've not thought about how a hypothetical Bluey episode might cover that topic.


Perhaps you should teach children that it's good to respect people's beliefs because being nice to people is good?

I think it's ironically tragic that in an attempt to get people to respect your beliefs more, you argue that the main reason to do so it out of fear of retribution.




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