Do You Ever Worry CPS Will Take Your Kids?
This judgment culture doesn’t make for the best parenting.
“I can see all his bits!”
When my daughter was just 1, we visited friends in Seattle, and went for a short walk around their neighborhood. Because we were just starting to potty train (and because it was a gorgeous day), my daughter wasn’t wearing a diaper or pants: just a T-shirt with a crab on it, velcro shoes, and a sun hat. I had her little hand in one of my hands, and my dog’s leash in my other: Life was awesome.
Until our friends’ next-door neighbor screamed out her window:
“Put some clothes on that boy! I’m gonna call CPS on you! I can see all his bits! Some people don’t deserve to be parents!”
The part I would laugh at later (after hiding in our friends’ house, shaking and crying, convinced the State was going to take my toddler away from me) was that, no, she could not “see all his bits,” because my kid’s got a vulva, so this lady’s assumption of he/his pronouns was based more on fashion than bits.
I tell my daughter that my job as a parent is to help her be happy, healthy, and kind. Taking a walk with me and our dog, on a nice day, without…
