@Strandjunker It really is ... I don't know how I survived the things I have been through...

@Strandjunker Amen. And the best type

@Strandjunker #transrights #LGBQT

@Strandjunker What are maga kids encouraged to be? How does America deal with the children of pro-genocide/massacre/theocracy parents? Kids echo their hate and violence. I have personally experienced this, as have many Americans.

@Strandjunker Spot on. The number of thankfully failed suicide attempts we deal with as a pediatric nurse would stagger all but the most hardened sociopath. In particular LGBTQ kids. We can save most, but the problem then is the utter lack of mental health care. Kids will sit in ER's waiting for placement in a facility to get help for days even weeks and most parents can't afford it anyway. Embrace the differences, support, and empathy are powerful tools

@Strandjunker I agree with you, but I probably have a different interpretation of you words than what you intended. We should all learn and teach self acceptance.

@Strandjunker Thank you for your voice!

@Strandjunker and helping to find role models who can help along that journey of self discovery. Seeing adults like you also helps.

@Strandjunker ❤🧡💛💚💙💜❤🧡💛💚💙💜❤🧡💛💚💙💜

@Strandjunker Yes. Let's let people be who they truly are and love them for that

@Strandjunker I know parents who are happier with a dead kid. I wish this weren't true. She was a lovely girl.

@Strandjunker And telling kids they have to take medications and block natural development is assisting, not preventing . The stats don't lie. . . .

@Strandjunker Absolutely.

@Strandjunker yes!

@Strandjunker yes! And going hand in hand with this is giving them as much control over their own lives as possible. Knowing we have choices gives us hope- and the choice of gender expression is a major choice they should be allowed to have. If for no other reason than their own safety (though there are many reasons beyond that)

@Strandjunker Couldn't agree more. Encouraging self-actualization and acceptance is the greatest gift you can provide to your/all children.

@Strandjunker And still most of Western society struggles with this very simple concept.

@Strandjunker Encouraging, supporting unconditionally and loving. Love our kids.

@Strandjunker unfortunately it feels like the goal of some in certain political persuasions isn't suicide prevention, it's "thinning the herd". But they won't admit it openly yet. History has shown they will, eventually. When conformity is more important than free-will, what freedom is there really?

@Strandjunker Exactly!

@Strandjunker They're uneducated, stupid and ill-mannered.

@Strandjunker encouraging children with unguided, autonomous self-expression gives them no foundation. It leads to angsty identity crises, contributing to feelings of emptiness and confusion. I do understand the opposite problem that you are addressing, however. Allowing no freedom for self-expression is stifling and suffocating. But still, they aren’t autonomous. They exist as created beings in a community and need wise guidance.

@Strandjunker It's True. Forcing them to be someone else that their parents like, is the worst harassment that a child can have!

@Strandjunker encourage ohh i think positive encourage is good

@Strandjunker 1000 percent this!!!!

@Strandjunker sorry for the unrelated question. I see a blue check mark in your account and others, yet I keep reading that there is no such thing as verification in Mastodon. How do you get that?

@Strandjunker How can we get the world to see that it costs you absolutely nothing for someone to be comfortable in their own skin, to use the name they want to use, the pronouns they prefer and love the person they love? It costs them absolutely EVERYTHING when as a society we dehumanize, attack, shame , demonize them? Acceptance and equality are suicide prevention. #ally

@Strandjunker I agree. Completely.

@Strandjunker yes. 100% this

@Strandjunker Father Coughlin DBA Tucker Carlson. #MurdochGutterMedia Is deja vu TV

@Strandjunker Absolute truth!

@Strandjunker consider the many many young boys who were sexually assaulted by pedophile clergy. They feared to speak up, to speak out- to dare take on the church (and now we know sexual assaults existed in Catholic, Mormon & baptist faiths..at least)
These children have a lifetime of depression and confusion. And why- parents didn’t know or didn’t know how to handle it…or outright didn’t believe their child. We know better now. We know to help them understand.

@Strandjunker judgemental people will have you questioning your existence in an instant.

@Strandjunker I struggled with depression when I was young, and I thoroughly endorse this.

@Strandjunker Never stop gifting that message.🌻

@Strandjunker as a teacher I can say this definitively: the kids are not okay. The hate they’re seeing and experiencing permeates every aspect of their lives. Speaker Pelosi is correct, we have to keep working to preserve democracy for the kids.

@Strandjunker As a former Middle School teacher who had a good rapport with my students, just listening, really listening, and accepting them for who they are with no judgment is so important. I had students who were LGBTQ and I listened. Still in touch with some of them. I really worry when I don't hear from E. -Male Trans who is Black and has been living as a female for several years. She has a good support system of friends. But I really worry for her.

@Strandjunker and addiction prevention and overall well- being! Yes!❤️

@Strandjunker 💯 always try my hardest to support, encourage and ask questions/stay informed. 💙

@Strandjunker honest question do you think it prevents more lose of life than conversely would be deliberately created life as result of (perhaps much less happily) conforming to societal expectations? .. if the later produces more than enough to offset the lose... Would it still be better for society as a whole to confirm or not.. not asking about individual quality of life . Strictly for the greater good.

@Strandjunker The difference in our son’s mental health, once we started using his name and pronouns, was very noticeable.
When he came out as trans, it was a hard, hard grapple to adjust the images, thoughts, memories in my head. We talked a lot trying to understand where we each were coming from. I love him dearly—nothing could ever change that—but the words just no longer landed the same as they had when he was younger.
When I made the choice to be ALL in, he began to thrive.

@Strandjunker Absobloodylutely

@Strandjunker facts!!

@Strandjunker only for a while. The demons come back.

@Strandjunker
I'd prefer to use the word accept rather than encourage.
We don't have kids so we can make their lives a misery, yet still some parents are worried about what others might think if their child is perceived to be "different'.

@Strandjunker my inner child needed to hear this today.

@Strandjunker Although the sentiment is positive, I do agree with one commenter - support, rather than encourage. Encouraging brings the risk of steering towards the direction you as a parent thinks they should go. Give children time and space to discover who they are, and let them decide reality vs YouTube narrative. True self-discovery takes time…

@Strandjunker
True