Gender Fluidity Makes Perfect Sense to My Six-Year-Old
So why is it so hard for adults to understand?
Here’s my new rule of thumb: If something makes sense to my six-year-old, it probably just makes sense.
Granted, my six-year-old still believes that a bearded man in a red suit flies a reindeer-powered sleigh around the world every Christmas to deliver presents made by elves. But as he approaches first grade, his questions about Santa are becoming increasingly logistical.
How many miles is it around the Earth? How fast does Santa’s sleigh fly? How does it hold so many toys? Don’t the reindeer get tired?
As I cobble together answers, wondering why parents willingly entrap themselves in such intricate webs of lies, he looks at me quizzically, then shrugs his shoulders. Maybe the details are a little murky, but he’s still willing to accept Santa as a symbol of benevolence, because benevolence makes sense.
Greed, hatred, prejudice, on the other hand — these do not make sense. Like all humans, my son has experienced them in passing, but he cannot understand why a human being would choose any or all of the above as guiding principles by which to live one’s life.
Adults can point to societal factors to explain why some people cling so fiercely to greed…
