{"id":1929,"date":"2011-05-25T15:18:41","date_gmt":"2011-05-25T19:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=1929"},"modified":"2011-05-25T15:18:41","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T19:18:41","slug":"parents-keep-child%e2%80%99s-gender-under-wraps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/05\/parents-keep-child%e2%80%99s-gender-under-wraps.html","title":{"rendered":"Parents keep child\u2019s gender under wraps"},"content":{"rendered":"

WATCHWOMAN’S SHOCKER! <\/span>Remember the song from 1966, “Are you a boy or are you a girl?” \u00a0Well, in 2011, we’re really living that song!!! You’re going to be stunned by the story that follows this silly song, but has become real life in the 21st Century! Just in case you forgot the song or are too young to recall it, or maybe never even heard it, here it is, and then one of the most astounding stories I have ever read! \u00a0Just when you thought you heard it all, a whole new idiot springs up to totally knock your socks off! \u00a0\u25ac Donna Calvin<\/h2>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Yiwvti7txCM<\/a>\n

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Parents keep child\u2019s gender under wraps<\/big><\/span><\/h1>\n
By\u00a0Zachary Roth<\/a> <\/cite>Tue\u00a0May\u00a024, 1:08\u00a0pm\u00a0ET<\/big><\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>When many couples have a baby, they send out an email to family and friends that fills them in on the key details: name, gender,\u00a0birth weight, that sort of thing. (You know the drill: “Both Mom and little Ethan are doing great!”)<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

But the email sent recently by Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Toronto, Canada to announce the birth of their baby, Storm, was missing one important piece of information. “We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now–a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place? …),” it said.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

That’s right.\u00a0They’re not saying whether Storm is a boy or a girl<\/a>.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

There’s nothing ambiguous about the baby’s genitals. But as\u00a0Stocker\u00a0puts it: “If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.” So only the parents, their two other children (both boys), a close friend, and the two midwives who helped deliver the now 4-month-old baby know its gender. Even the grandparents have been left in the dark.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

Stocker and Witterick say the decision gives Storm the freedom to choose who he or she wants to be. “What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It’s obnoxious,” adds Stocker, a teacher at an\u00a0alternative school.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

They say that kids receive messages from society that encourage them to fit into existing boxes, including with regard to gender. “We thought that if we delayed sharing that information, in this case hopefully, we might knock off a couple million of those messages by the time that Storm decides Storm would like to share,” says Witterick.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

“In fact, in not telling the gender of my precious baby, I am saying to the world, ‘Please can you just let Storm discover for him\/herself what s (he) wants to be?!.” she wrote in an email.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

How did Stocker and Witterick decide to keep Storm’s gender under wraps? During Witterick’s\u00a0pregnancy, her son Jazz was having “intense” experiences with his own gender. “I was feeling like I needed some\u00a0good parenting skills\u00a0to support him through that,” Witterick said.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

Stocker came across a book from 1978, titled\u00a0X: A Fabulous Child’s Story <\/em>by Lois Gould. X is raised as neither a boy or girl, and grows up to be a happy and well-adjusted child.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

“It became so compelling it was almost like, How could we not?” Witterick said.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

The couple’s other two children, Jazz and Kio, haven’t escaped their parents’ unconventional approach to parenting. Though they’re only 5 and 2, they’re allowed to pick out their own clothes in the boys and girls sections of stores and decide whether to cut their hair or let it grow.<\/big><\/span><\/p>\n

Click here to read the rest of this sick and sad story<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WATCHWOMAN’S SHOCKER! Remember the song from 1966, “Are you a boy or are you a girl?” \u00a0Well, in 2011, we’re really living that song!!! You’re going to be stunned by the story that follows this silly song, but has become real life in the 21st Century! Just in case you forgot the song or are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[453,244],"tags":[810,808,807,811,812,813,809],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children-2","category-perversion","tag-baby-storm","tag-david-stocker","tag-kathy-witterick","tag-no-gender-on-birth-announcement","tag-sick-parents","tag-stupid-parents","tag-toronto"],"yoast_head":"\nParents keep child\u2019s gender under wraps - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/05\/parents-keep-child\u2019s-gender-under-wraps.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parents keep child\u2019s gender under wraps - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WATCHWOMAN’S SHOCKER! 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