I haven’t read the ‘No Outsiders in our School’ curriculum materials and I suspect many of those making heated pronouncements about it haven’t either. Some seem to have outsourced the reading of the material to tame experts whose evaluation will inevitably be biased by their viewpoint.
I won't get into an argument about materials I haven't read.
However, I am intrigued by some of the anecdotal evidence used against the material, e.g. some children have apparently come home and said stuff like, ‘Is it true that I can be a boy instead of a girl?’
SHOCK! HORROR!
Have people who report these shocking tales never hung out with kids? Young children ask all sorts of weird and wonderful questions. Here are some I heard when working with families, long before the equality act of 2010:
‘Mummy, when I grow up, can I marry you?’ (Six year old boy)
‘Mummy, when will I grow mine?’ (Four year old girl pointing at her brother’s penis)
‘I’m glad I have two daddies!’ (Eight year old , who lives part of the week with his birth dad and part with his step dad)
‘I want to be a boy! Boys don’t have to wear stupid dresses!’ (Ten year old girl)
‘Daddy, I have VD’ (Ten year old boy who has found some spots on his tummy)
‘You have great big milks but you don’t have a baby!’ (Five year old to his Mummy’s friend)
Children ask questions. It’s how they learn. Wise parents use these questions to establish values. Whatever these values are, I hope they will always include respect, tolerance and kindness.