Said Mo Willems, quoted in "Mo Willems Has a Message for Parents: He’s Not on Your Side" (NYT).
Since we talked about embarrassment 2 posts down, I should include this: "Is embarrassment about unstructured creativity why parents stop drawing? Embarrassment is a learned disease. It can be cured. It’s about willingness to fail."
Willems is estranged from his parents — "when I started to see some of the harmful behavior that had happened to me starting to be moved over to my child by them, that was the line" — and his only child is trans — "One of the great things about queer kids in this culture is that they have to have done the work. They have to do the questioning and say: 'Who am I? What am I? Where am I in society? What risks am I willing to take or not take to be authentic?'"
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31 comments:
You lost me at "and his only child is trans".
Children as trans is a reflection of horrible parenting. As an adult, it's on the individual. But to let your kid 'just do it' is nuts. Just think of the decisions a child makes. Think of the incorrect thinking based on a lack of life experience. You as the parent should know better, but your child, who you would not allow to make a life changing decision on any other topic, you allow to do so here?
Parenting is not a natural ability. Some are very good at it. Some should not have had kids.
The phrase "Do the work" and all of its variations has struck my last nerve.
"and his only child is trans" Was that the child's choice, fully supported by the parents?
One may want to review the suicide rates for trans children prior to embarking on this path.
Mo Willems? Who he?
The phrase "Do the work" and all of its variations has struck my last nerve.
It's a slogan of anti-white racists, e.g. and also a dog-whistle to fellow travelers.
" I can trace things... I get to dress weird. I get to have long hair. I’m going to get a tattoo."
Replace the periods with exclamation points and you have a teenager having a tantrum against Mom and Dad.
We are Daddy Issues America.
I am Laslo.
Ugh. Really?
The tag list, though, is very intriguing. With your crew of commenters you could've just put the tags and asked us to create the post that generated that assortment. Anything we came up with would've been better.
"One of the great things about queer kids in this culture is that they have to have done the work. They have to do the questioning and say: 'Who am I? What am I? Where am I in society? What risks am I willing to take or not take to be authentic?'"
How many have "done the work" and how many are following a trend? There's much controversy now about whether the teenage trans trend is "real" or just young people being influenced by their peers and by the media. When something becomes an acceptable option for expressing alienation from parents and from society young people may go that way and think they are expressing their true self.
Is everyone who writes something for New York media a mental case? By my observation every columnist, regular or guest, men or women, has some sort of mental disease.
Willems has done some great work. ‘Knuffle Bunny’ was a favorite in our house. Kids also enjoyed some of the Pigeon books he wrote.
Sigh. It’s often a mistake to peek behind the curtain and see what a person whose work you admire is really like. Disappointing, but his books are still fun.
He lives in fab Northampton.
All my life I was a terrible drawer. Then I got a book on how to do it from my son, who had learned how to sketch. Suddenly I could do it too! I was _so_ much better at it - right away - than I had ever imagined.
It does take time and patience. You need to be willing to spend a couple of hours on a sketch. Since I'm usually not, I kinda stopped doing it after a while.
I read through that excerpt, and kept thinking to myself, "Well, he's wrong on that. Wrong on that one, too... Jeez, this guy is a flaming sulfuric acid train wreck."
Wow, *something* messed him up. Maybe his parents really were toxic.
Reason No. 1,490,896 why parents don't want their children to grow up to be artists.
Every time this guy yells at people for being controlling, he sounds like an unpleasant control freak.
What is so important about being authentic? Does it pay well? Give immunity to life's hardships? Can it be measured? Not getting it...
"Authentic" for some narrow, .uniform values of that word, strictly policed by racist, sexist, age-ist, body shaming bigots within the self declared authentic community.
Ah yet another stunted child in permanent rebellion against his parents.
Also, note the moral narcissism in that he fancies only queer folks have deep thoughts about their existence in the world.
"'Who am I? What am I? Where am I in society?"
And you may ask yourself, "How do I work this?"
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife"
Once in a Lifetime.
I am Laslo.
"when I started to see some of the harmful behavior that had happened to me starting to be moved over to my child by them, that was the line"
Starting? I think the damage was already done.
" — and his only child is trans — "One of the great things about queer kids in this culture is that they have to have done the work."
Skimmed through the article...can't tell if the kid was born male or female. Referred to as 'Trix,' 'he,' 'trans,' and 'queer.' Is that like changing your mind and coming around 360-degrees?
The modern world is a confusing fucking mess.
I'm sure this guy is almost a gold-medal dad...a nut with a messed up kid. Pretty good cred for the woke crowd I'm sure he hangs out with.
If only he were black or brown or trans or queer himself. He'd be the gold medal winner...at least he's secure in the fact that he will always be a pretentious, preachy asshole.
"Skimmed through the article...can't tell if the kid was born male or female. Referred to as 'Trix,' 'he,' 'trans,' and 'queer.' Is that like changing your mind and coming around 360-degrees?"
Most likely born female and wants to be a boy. A boy with a female strippers name. Daddy's a weirdo queer artist whose moral center is where he desires to put his genitalia, so of course he goes along with it.
@SGT Ted
Being born and girl and 'transitioning' to a boy requires no commitment...it's just dress-up. The public is being programmed to both accept and celebrate this behavior so there is no social stigma. In fact, there are tangible rewards for such behavior.
Being born a boy and 'fully' transitioning requires balls as it were. Not so easy.
" -- and his only child is trans -- "
I guess the question is, when you have failed utterly as a parent, and your child's life is ruined as a result, is it even possible that you could in some sense be "successful"?
Trans (i.e. divergence) - a state or process. The transgender spectrum not limited to homosexual, bisexual, intersexual, and neosexual (e.g. indoctrination, medical corruption).
I've been around long enough to know that great parents can wind up with screwed up kids and vice versa.
"I've been around long enough to know that great parents can wind up with screwed up kids and vice versa."
Occam begs to differ...
The opposite is true. The trans children (and adults) I have known have not done anything like that questioning. They have consulted their feelings, and that is all. I don't deny that their life is hard. But let's not try and sell the idea that they have "done the work."
I have a new rule, developed just this year. Anyone who tells you they have "done the work" and that you need to "do the work" has not actually done any "work." They have feelings that they treat as facts.
Professional lady said...
"I've been around long enough to know that great parents can wind up with screwed up kids and vice versa."
Yeah, but we're talking surgery here. And shithead doesn't see anything wrong with it.
His daughter was Trixie and was the main character in his Knuffle Bunny books. She helped him read the audio books I think.
Not surprising it turned out that way. Will still enjoy his older books but be skeptical of anything new he writes.
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