Philosophy for kids

A bit of love and understanding is probably all most of us ask for in this world.
~~~

It is an interesting late supper, sat around the dinner table with Mr Doris, fourteen year old son and my friend Jo who happens to be transgendered and in the process of transitioning from male to female. Jo has arrived from a work appointment and is therefore in male mode. Son is aware of the whole situation as we have previously sat and talked over transgender issues and seemed to have been OK with it all, but one just can't tell if he really is OK about it. Son had been looking forward to meeting Jo and had been miffed to find that we (even including his sister) had all met Jo but he hadn't.

So here we were talking about life and specifically gender issues and society's perceptions. Jo was magnificent as only she can be, and had been directly open and kindly so that son was put at ease. I admire that Jo found the right words and was not in the least bit awkward which in turn meant no-one else felt awkward. Thank goodness son is still pre-pubescent and quite sweet and communicative and not turned into a grunting zit monster.

On the subject of society's perceptions of gender, son pipes up with a connection between that and brick walls! In the moment between that utterance and the next was like forever as I waited with bated breath wondering what the connection could be and where this one was going. Son explained that when he is out in the park with his friends and sees a brick wall, he, with his free-running skills and interest, will look upon it with delight and excitement. With all sorts of possibilities for running along it, jumping, climbing. Whereas his friends will look upon the wall with no interest at all, and probably won't even notice the wall. (I may have used more words here than son actually did at dinner but this is what he meant!) How that quite correlates with gender perceptions in society is quite a leap but I think there is something profound in it.

Our friend Jo was staying the night and son knew that next morning Jo would be presenting as female. After the event, son told me that he had been concerned that Jo might look like a bloke dressed as a woman but was quite surprised that if it hadn't had been for the beard shadow that he wouldn't have known Jo wasn't (born) female.

Jo and I had a lovely time together and she even helped looked over the jigsaw and placed a piece in the right place. That was one more of the 5000 pieces in place! As we sat fiddling around with the jigsaw we talked about the jigsaw pieces in our lives. The we made a pineapple upside down cake and went for a lovely walk.



On our return we had tea, cake and custard for lunch with Mr Doris. After eating it you sure know you have eaten as it is filling but quite satisfying.

There was just time for son to return from playing out with his friends to be taken for a quick drive in Jo's Mercedes sports car. Imagine a 14 year old with eyes as big as saucers and a grin from ear to ear at just getting to sit in such a car. No wonder he used his phone camera to film the top opening in the car. And as Jo drove doing a small circuit in our town son felt the bees knees. It seems that ambitious talk was had as son aspired to have such a car and they talked about careers and working hard at school. Meanwhile, mother is at home sweeping the front yard thinking that she wanted a drive in Jo's sports car too! ;-)

Time for Jo to go and son thanked Jo and told her what a pleasure it was to meet her. He went back to his friend's house but came running back with his friend, a pretty 12 year old girl, to show her the sports car he had just been showing her on his phone. As Jo and I stood by the car saying bye, it was the car that was the centre of the kid's attentions.

Thank you Jo for a lovely visit, and for all that you have given my son by way of inspiration and experience.